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OUR 


WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 


BY 


HENRY   M.   FIELD 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1895 


COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Press  of  J.  j.  Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  York 


THE  KEASON  WHY 

THE  summer  days  are  come,  and  we  must  go  some- 
where. Europe  is  an  old  story.  Why  not  turn  to  the 
West,  and  see  a  little  more  of  our  own  Continent  ? 
But  one  cannot  go  alone.  Even  an  old  traveller  does 
not  like  to  set  out  on  a  solitary  pilgrimage.  But  there 
is  a  choice  in  companions,  and  he  will  have  no  old 
fogy  but  himself.  To  go  to  the  other  extreme,  he 
takes  the  youngest  of  his  household  to  brighten  him 
up  when  he  is  a  little  dull,  and  warm  his  heart  when 
it  is  a  little  cold.  It  cannot  check  her  natural  buoy- 
ancy, for  that  is  irrepressible.  At  least  she  is  willing 
to  take  the  chances,  and  so  age  and  youth  set  out 
together,  and  the  overflow  of  spirit  on  one  side  makes 
up  for  any  want  of  it  on  the  other.  And  now  that  he 
comes  to  tell  the  story,  he  would  have  all  his  listeners 
young  in  heart,  if  not  in  years,  loving  the  sunshine, 
and  looking  up  to  the  deep  blue  sky. 

JUNE,  1895. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

THE  LONGEST  RAILROAD  IN  THE  WORLD      .        .  1 


CHAPTER  II 
ON  THE  NORTH  SHORE  OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR  . 

CHAPTER  III 
IN  RUPERT'S  LAND — THE  HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY        ...      25 

CHAPTER  IV 
BANFF  AND  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  PARK 35 

CHAPTER  V 
How  WE  KEPT  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY 44 

CHAPTER  VI 
RIDING  ON  THE  COW-CATCHER 55 

CHAPTER  VII 
THE  GLACIER  OF  THE  SELKIRKS    .  65 


yiii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   VIII 

FA6E 

To  VANCOUVER  AND  VICTORIA 76 

CHAPTER  IX 
THE  GREAT  AMERICAN  ARCHIPELAGO 90 

CHAPTER  X 
THE  GLACIERS 103 

CHAPTER  XI 
THE  MUIR  GLACIER 108 

CHAPTER  XII 
NATURE  AND  MAN  FARTHER  NORTH 117 

CHAPTER  XIII 

SlTKA   AND  THE   GOVERNMENT 131 

CHAPTER  XIV 
SCHOOLS  AND  MISSIONS 141 

CHAPTER  XV 
THE  STORY  OF  METLAKAHTLA 151 

CHAPTER  XVI 
PUGET  SOUND — SEATTLE  AND  TACOMA 161 

CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  STATE  OF  WASHINGTON  .  172 


CONTENTS  IX 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

PAGE 

THE  CITY  OF  PORTLAND 179 

CHAPTER  XIX 
HOMEWARD  BOUND — THE  STRIKES 189 

CHAPTER  XX 
MONTANA — THE  VIGILANTES 200 

CHAPTER  XXI 
THE  YELLOWSTONE  PARK 215 

CHAPTER  XXII 
THE  GEYSERS 223 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
THE  LAKE  AND  THE  RIVER 230 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  CANON  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE  239 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

MOUNT  STEPHEN  WITH  FIELD  STATION  AT  THE  FOOT         Frontispiece 
ON  THE  NORTH  SHORE  OP  LAKE  SUPERIOR         .       To  Face  Page    16 

THE  DEVIL'S  LAKE "  "38 

KICKING  HORSE  CANON "  "58 

MOUNT  FIELD "  "64 

BAY  OP  CHILCAT "  "      106 

MUIR  GLACIER "  "      114 

MOUNT  ST.  ELIAS "  "      118 

BAY  OF  SITKA "  "      132 

MAMMOTH  HOT  SPRINGS "  "      216 

GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE         .  "  "      239 

FALLS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE  "  "      246 


THE    WESTERN    ARCHIPELAGO 


OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

CHAPTEE  I 

THE   LONGEST   RAILROAD    IN   THE   WORLD 

WHEN  I  was  a  boy  it  was  a  long  way  to  Canada.  I 
read  the  story  of  Arnold's  Expedition  to  Quebec,  and 
Quebec  seemed  as  far  away  as  Gibraltar.  But  we  have 
changed  all  that,  till  it  is  a  matter  of  but  a  few  hours. 
We  go  to  sleep  in  New  York  and  open  our  eyes  in  Mon- 
treal. But  it  were  a  pity  to  flee  away  in  the  darkness ; 
to  "  pass  in  the  night "  river  and  lake  and  mountain. 
Better  choose  the  longest  summer  day  for  a  ride  along 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson  and  the  shores  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  with  the  Green  Mountains  standing  out  against 
the  horizon. 

Montreal  is  a  dear  old  place,  dear  because  it  is  old. 
Coming  from  our  new-built  cities,  it  is  a  rest  to  the  eye 
to  look  upon  walls  softened  by  the  moss  of  time.  The 
quaint  old  houses  and  the  narrow  streets,  with  their 
French  names,  make  one  feel  as  if  he  were  in  some  town 
of  Normandy ;  while  the  Cathedral,  with  its  twin  towers, 
recalls  another  Notre  Dame  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine. 

But  just  now  my  interest  was  not  in  the  old  but  in 
the  new.  Since  I  was  here  before,  no  matter  how  many 


2  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

years  ago,  a  tubular  bridge  had  spanned  the  St.  Law- 
rence, and  a  railway  spanned  the  continent.  I  had 
come  by  invitation  of  the  President  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific,  who  had  been  a  friend  of  my  late  brother  Cyrus, 
and  showed  me  kindness  for  his  sake.  Of  course,  my 
first  duty  was  to  acknowledge  his  courtesy.  I  found 
him  in  the  great  building  erected  for  the  use  of  the 
Company,  where,  with  the  walls  covered  with  maps  and 
photographs  of  wonderful  scenery,  he  seemed  to  be 
standing  in  the  very  heart  of  the  American  Alps, 
through  which  the  road  winds  its  way — a  road  in  which 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  has  not  only  rivalled,  but  sur- 
passed, the  United  States,  inasmuch  as,  with  its  connec- 
tions eastward  to  Nova  Scotia,  it  is  longer  than  any  of 
our  transcontinental  lines,  and  is  indeed  the  longest  line 
of  railroad  under  one  management  in  the  world ! 

In  building  on  a  scale  so  imperial  we  look  for  a  cer- 
tain proportion  between  the  construction  and  construct- 
ors ;  so  great  a  work  should  not  be  undertaken  by  weak 
men  :  hence  it  was  with  a  sense  of  fitness  that  I  recog- 
nized at  once  a  strong  personality  in  the  man  before  me 
— a  frame  of  iron,  that  could  stand  any  pressure,  and 
broad  shoulders  to  carry  heavy  burdens,  with  a  force  of 
will  to  bear  down  all  obstacles  in  his  way.  A  man  so 
compact  with  the  elements  of  power  looked  as  if  he  were 
the  very  embodiment  of  the  energy  needed  to  carry  out 
so  vast  a  design.  Of  course,  with  American  inquisitive- 
ness,  I  plied  him  with  questions  in  regard  to  the  enter- 
prise to  which  he  had  given  so  large  a  portion  of  his 
life.  Perhaps  he  answered  the  more  freely  in  that  he  is 
himself  one  of  our  countrymen ;  but  it  is  due  to  him  to 
say  that,  while  he  entered  into  the  narrative  with  the 
enthusiasm  which  had  carried  him  through  the  work 


THE  LONGEST  RAILROAD   IN  THE  WORLD  3 

itself,  he  was  very  modest  as  to  his  own  part  in  it,  insist- 
ing that  others  had  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the 
day.  Of  that  we  may  form  our  own  opinion  hereafter. 
But  for  the  present  I  will  not  detain  my  readers  on  the 
threshold  of  my  story,  stopping  but  'a  moment  to  tell 
how  the  Dominion  came  to  build  a  highway  from  sea 
to  sea. 

Our  own  country  led  the  way.  For  years  a  transcon- 
tinental railroad  had  been  talked  of,  but  rather  vaguely, 
as  a  vast  and  almost  Utopian  enterprise ;  but  the  civil 
war  showed  it  to  be  a  political  and  military  necessity. 
The  war  had  awakened  the  country  to  a  consciousness  of 
its  power.  For  four  years  it  had  been  fighting  for  exist- 
ence. That  tremendous  struggle  was  a  revelation  of 
the  nation  to  itself.  It  had  put  great  armies  in  the  field ; 
it  had  fought  great  battles  and  won  great  victories, 
out  of  which  it  came  like  a  giant  in  his  strength,  to 
which  there  was  nothing  which  it  could  not  do  or  dare. 
To  such  unbounded  energy  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  did 
not  seem  impossible.  It  was  only  necessary  to  put  a 
little  of  the  spirit  shown  in  war  into  the  work  of  peace. 
And  as  to  the  cost,  a  country  that  had  been  accustomed 
to  spend  five  millions  a  day,  need  not  shrink  from  lending 
its  credit  to  an  enterprise  which  would  bind  together  the 
Union  which  had  cost  so  much  in  treasure  and  in  blood. 
Hence  the  enormous  subsidies  in  public  lands  and  govern- 
ment bonds,  to  build  the  first  railroad  across  the  Ameri- 
can Continent. 

The  lesson  of  all  this  was  not  lost  upon  our  neighbors 
over  the  border.  Our  war  had  consolidated  the  Union, 
while  British  America  remained  divided  into  half  a  dozen 
provinces :  on  the  east,  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
New  Brunswick;  then  Upper  and  Lower  Canada;  and 


4  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

in  the  far  west,  British  Columbia ;  besides  the  vast,  un- 
defined territories  under  the  control  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  which,  like  the  East  India  Company,  had 
grown  from  being  a  commercial  corporation  to  become 
a  great  political  power,  whose  rule  stretched  westward 
almost  to  the  Pacific,  and  northward  to  the  Arctic  Circle. 
Not  only  were  all  these  divisions  of  the  British  posses- 
sions distinct  from  one  another,  but  in  some  cases  they 
were  farther  separated  by  rival  interests  and  mutual  jeal- 
ousies. To  eliminate  these  sources  of  weakness  and  dan- 
ger, it  was  proposed  to  combine  all  these  provinces  into 
one  confederation,  after  the  manner  of  the  United  States. 

The  design  was  worthy  of  great  statesmen.  But  it 
was  not  so  easy  to  carry  it  out,  for  however  small  a  prov- 
ince may  be,  and  however  petty  its  government,  it  does 
not  like  to  be  swallowed  up  in  a  great  coalition,  in  which 
it  will  sink  into  insignificance.  At  any  rate,  if  it  consents 
to  self-annihilation,  it  must  have  some  very  substantial 
consideration,  and  such  was  offered  in  the  promise  of  a 
line  of  railway  that  should  span  the  continent,  and  thus 
bind  all  the  provinces  together. 

But  great  bodies  move  slowly,  and  although  the  project 
was  first  mooted  in  1867,  the  work  was  not  begun  until 
1875,  when  it  was  undertaken  by  the  Government  with 
all  the  stately  dignity  that  belongs  to  Government  oper- 
ations. To  be  sure,  this  patronage  gave  it  unbounded 
credit.  Books  had  but  to  be  opened  in  the  great  finan- 
cial centres  to  call  out  large  subscriptions.  With  such 
resources  the  Government  carried  on  the  work  for  five  or 
six  years,  in  which  it  built  nearly  six  hundred  miles.  By 
this  time  it  had  come  to  appreciate  the  enormous  difficul- 
ties to  be  overcome.  The  obstacles  seemed  to  increase  at 
every  step,  and  bid  fair  to  exhaust  the  strength,  great  as 


THE   LONGEST  RAILEOAD   IN  THE  WORLD  5 

it  was,  of  the  Government  itself,  which  at  last  staggered 
under  the  tremendous  load,  and  the  work  stood  still ! 

Then  came  into  the  field  a  new  element — that  of  indi- 
vidual enterprise,  which  dared  to  undertake  what  a  more 
showy  but  more  cumbrous  machinery  had  failed  to 
achieve.  The  Government  was  generous  to  its  successor, 
to  which  it  turned  over  all  it  had  done,  and  besides  gave 
outright  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  and  twenty-five 
millions  of  acres  of  land  along  the  road,  a  liberality  which 
it  owed  chiefly  to  the  Prime  Minister,  Sir  John  A.  Mac- 
donald,  who  may  be  called  the  Father  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific. 

With  this  magnificent  subsidy  the  new  Company  started 
on  its  way,  in  1881,  full  of  courage  and  of  hope.  It  was 
fortunate  in  finding  a  very  efficient  General  Manager  in 
one  of  our  own  countrymen,  a  native  of  Illinois — a  State 
that  grows  strong  men  as  well  as  great  harvests — who 
had  been  trained  on  our  Western  railways,  where  he  had 
made  himself  so  familiar  with  every  detail  that  he  became 
one  of  the  first  masters  of  railroad  construction  in  the 
country,  understanding  its  whole  art  and  mystery,  so  that 
he  knew  how  to  build  an  engine  as  well  as  any  machinist, 
and  to  run  a  locomotive  as  well  as  any  engineer — a  prac- 
tical discipline  which  prepared  him  for  larger  responsi- 
bilities, when  he  was  invited  to  cross  the  border  from  the 
Great  Republic  to  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  He  took 
charge  of  the  work  in  the  field,  and  pressed  it  forward 
with  the  greatest  vigor.  For  part  of  the  distance  it  was 
easy  enough.  From  Winnipeg  westward  the  country  is 
a  plain  for  a  thousand  miles.  Here  was  nothing  to  check 
their  progress,  and  they  swept  on,  carrying  everything 
before  them,  sometimes  laying  down  the  track  at  the  rate 
of  five,  and  even  seven,  miles  a  day.  But  the  great 


6  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

obstacles  lay  at  the  two  ends  east  and  west — on  the 
rock-bound  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  and  near  the  Pacific 
Coast,  where  it  had  to  traverse  three  distinct  ranges  of 
mountains — the  Rockies,  the  Selkirks,  and  the  Cascades ; 
so  that  literally  Alps  on  Alps  arose  to  bar  the  passage  to 
the  sea. 

But  the  immensity  of  the  undertaking  only  stimulated 
their  courage.  As  fast  as  the  work  was  done  in  one  sec- 
tion, the  corps  of  engineers  that  had  gone  in  advance  led 
the  way  to  another,  pointing  out  the  track  to  be  laid,  the 
bridges  to  be  built,  and  the  tunnels  to  be  cut  through 
the  mountains,  which  the  miners  attacked  with  powder 
and  dynamite  for  blasting  the  rocks,  and  cutting  passages 
through  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 

The  eagerness  to  press  forward  was  the  greater  because 
they  were  running  a  race  with  a  competitor  on  the  other 
side  of  the  border.  It  was  the  Canadian  Pacific  against 
the  Northern  Pacific,  which  had  the  start,  and  was 
farther  on  its  way.  But  still  they  were  parallel  lines, 
between  which  there  was  a  generous  rivalship,  which 
increased  as  the  latter  was  advancing  with  rapid  strides 
towards  completion.  It  was  not  long  before  it  was  car- 
ried through,  and  opened  to  the  public  with  a  grand 
demonstration  in  which  orators  brought  from  the  East 
celebrated  the  enterprise,  the  wealth,  and  the  power  of 
the  Great  Republic ! 

But  alas  for  all  human  glory !  In  one  hour  was  so 
great  riches  brought  to  naught.  The  road  was  indeed 
complete,  but  at  such  enormous  cost  that  the  Company 
was  nearly  bankrupted,  and  the  sudden  collapse  almost 
produced  a  panic  in  the  country.  I  have  occasion  to 
remember  it,  as  I  knew  some  of  the  sufferers,  among 
whom  was  the  late  Frederick  Billings,  who  had  devoted 


THE   LONGEST  RAILKOAD  IN  THE  WORLD  7 

his  fortune  and  his  life  to  this  great  enterprise.  In  the 
very  midst  of  the  panic  I  spent  an  evening  at  his  house. 
Of  course,  my  first  question  was  "  How  he  felt  in  these 
troublous  times?  "  to  which  he  answered  with  his  wonted 
composure,  "  As  well  as  a  man  can  who  is  losing  a  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  a  day ! "  Fortunately,  he  could 
bear  the  loss  with  an  equanimity  which  others  could  not 
assume  who  were  wrecked  and  ruined. 

The  effect  on  the  Canadian  Company  was  instanta- 
neous— to  discredit  any  and  every  attempt  to  build  a 
trans-continental  railway;  for,  if  a  road  that  was  done 
and  in  full  operation  could  not  even  pay  the  interest  on 
its  bonds,  what  was  to  be  expected  from  one  that  was 
not  yet  finished,  and  on  which  there  were  still  millions 
to  expend  ? 

It  was  in  this  extremity — of  all  times  in  the  world — 
that  they  turned  once  more  to  the  Government  for  help. 
They  had  nowhere  else  to  go.  The  bottom  had  dropped 
out.  As  to  the  credit  of  the  Company,  it  had  no  credit, 
for  confidence  was  utterly  destroyed.  The  banks  would 
not  lend  it  a  dollar,  and  pressed  it  for  loans  already  given. 
As  my  informant  described  it,  the  "  interest  fiend  "  was 
after  them  like  a  pack  of  wolves,  whose  cry  came  nearer 
and  nearer.  It  was  at  such  a  moment  that  the  Company 
came  to  the  Government  to  stand  between  them  and 
death.  They  did  not  indeed  ask  for  another  bonus,  a 
gift  outright,  (that  would  have  been  too  much),  but  for 
a  loan  of  thirty  millions !  At  this  modest  request  the 
officers  of  the  Government  shook  their  heads.  They 
thought  they  had  done  enough,  and  some  even  went  so 
far  as  to  say  that  they  had  rather  lose  the  twenty-five 
million  dollars  they  had  already  advanced  than  to  put 
in  any  more !  If,  with  all  the  help  it  had  received,  the 


8  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

Company  could  not  take  care  of  itself,  they  would  leave 
it  to  its  fate. 

This  was  a  very  natural  feeling,  and  yet  it  was  met  by 
a  very  effective  answer :  "  The  Government  could  not 
throw  the  Company  overboard  without  sharing  in  its 
humiliation,  and  discrediting  itself.  In  the  United  States 
the  failure  of  certain  enterprises  in  1873  had  created  a 
panic,  and  caused  a  depression  that  spread  over  the  coun- 
try and  lasted  four  years,  in  which  were  lost  untold  mil- 
lions. Did  the  Dominion  intend  to  follow  in  the  same 
course,  and  inflict  a  loss  many  times  greater  than  all  that 
it  was  now  asked  to  guarantee?"  This  reasoning  prevailed, 
and  at  last  the  Government  put  its  official  seal  on  the 
new  loan,  which  restored  the  credit  of  the  Company,  so 
that  it  could  once  more  look  the  world  in  the  face,  and 
take  heart  again  to  complete  its  magnificent  design. 
But  while  it  worked  on,  and  worked  for  dear  life,  it  had 
the  terror  of  failure  always  hanging  over  it,  and  some- 
times had  to  take  courage  from  despair.  Those  were 
the  days  of  darkness,  and  they  were  many.  At  last  it 
became  a  race  between  life  and  death ;  they  lived  by  the 
day  ;  not  knowing  but  the  morrow  would  close  their 
career,  and  end  their  work  in  ignominy  and  disgrace. 
"When  such  was  the  state  of  things,  it  required  no  small 
self-control  to  hide  the  dreadful  secret.  "  But,"  so  ran 
the  story,  "we  never  told  anybody  in  what  straits  we 
were,  but  put  on  a  bold  front,  and  tried  to  keep  up  a 
stout  heart,  though  sometimes  those  about  us  would  have 
been  dumbfounded  if  they  knew  in  what  extremities  we 
were.  There  were  times  when  we  had  hardly  a  dollar 
in  the  treasury,  and  yet  were  spending  a  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  a  day !  At  one  time  it  was  a  question  of 
hours  how  long  we  could  keep  afloat.  One  day  we  had 


THE  LONGEST  RAILROAD  IN  THE   WORLD  9 

to  make  a  payment  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
If  it  had  not  been  paid  by  three  o'clock  the  Company's 
paper  would  have  been  protested,  and  it  was  near  noon 
before  we  knew  that  we  could  get  the  money  ! "  Such 
hairbreadth  escapes  are  very  thrilling  to  tell  of,  but  at 
the  moment  of  experience  they  are  like  the  crisis  of  a 
battle.  But  it  is  these  very  crises  that  try  men's  souls, 
and  show  of  what  stuff  they  are  made.  A  battle  is 
hardest,  not  at  the  beginning,  but  at  the  end,  when,  if 
courage  is  not  gone,  strength  is  nearly  exhausted.  As 
Napoleon  said,  "  It  is  those  who  keep  on  fighting  till  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  who  win  the  day ! "  Never  was 
more  of  such  courage  shown  than  by  the  projectors  and 
constructors  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway.  The 
story  of  their  struggles  is  as  thrilling  as  that  of  a  military 
campaign,  with  marches,  sieges,  and  battles.  Indeed,  it 
was  one  long  battle,  with  frequent  repulses  and  seeming 
defeats,  which  would  have  been  real  defeats  but  that 
it  could  be  said  of  them,  as  has  been  said  of  British 
soldiers,  that  they  never  knew  when  they  were  beaten, 
and  kept  on  fighting  till  at  last  the  tide  turned  in  their 
favor,  and  the  victory  was  won.  And  what  a  victory ! 
They  had  ten  years  to  do  their  work — they  did  it  in 
five! 

But  there  was  something  better  still  to  wind  up  this 
great  achievement.  When  the  Company  pleaded  for  its 
life,  to  obtain  its  last  loan,  probably  not  a  man  in  the 
Government  expected  ever  to  see  the  money  again. 
What  was  called  by  courtesy  a  loan  would  be  really  a 
gift.  But  to  the  honor  of  the  Company  be  it  said,  that 
within  a  year  after  the  road  was  completed  and  running, 
every  dollar  of  the  thirty  millions — principal  and  interest 
— was  paid  back  again  ! 


10  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

"  And  to  whom  do  you  ascribe  the  honor  of  this  great 
success  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  First  of  all,  to  Sir  John  A.  Macdonald,  who  was  the 
most  prominent  in  its  inception,  who  believed  in  it  from 
the  beginning,  and  stood  by  it  to  the  end.  The  Domin- 
ion of  Canada  owes  him  a  debt  which  it  can  never  repay, 
a  debt  which  should  be  recognized  more  than  ever  now 
that  he  is  gone  to  the  grave. 

"  The  glory  of  carrying  out  the  work  belongs  to  two 
Scotchmen,  now  honored  by  the  Home  Government  as 
Lord  Mount  Stephen  and  Sir  Donald  A.  Smith,  who 
may  be  almost  said,  like  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  to  have  'pledged  to  it  their  lives,  their 
fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor.'  Lord  Mount  Stephen 
was  the  financier  and  the  master  mind  in  the  execution 
of  the  great  design  ;  and  Sir  Donald  was  his  strong  and 
unfailing  prop.  Nobody  else  can  be  mentioned  on  the 
same  page,  unless  it  be  Richard  B.  Angus,  one  of  the 
original  syndicate,  who,  with  Lord  Mount  Stephen  and 
Sir  Donald,  saw  the  enterprise  through  to  the  end." 

I  had  my  own  opinion  that  there  was  another  figure 
that  was  very  conspicuous  in  this  March  to  the  Sea,  but 
my  informant  put  himself  in  the  background,  saying, 
"  My  own  part  was  that  of  spending  money,  not  always 
wisely,  I  fear,  but  at  best  an  insignificant  one  as  com- 
pared with  the  others." 

But  if  he  is  so  modest  as  to  decline  the  honors,  he 
must  at  least  permit  his  own  countrymen,  who  feel  a 
national  pride  in  what  he  has  done  on  the  other  side 
of  the  border,  to  do  him  justice.  As  I  learn  more  of 
the  history  of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  not  from  him  only, 
but  from  others,  it  seems  to  me  that  he  was  just  the 
man  for  the  crisis.  One  could  not  talk  with  him,  as  I 


THE   LONGEST  RAILROAD   IN  THE  WORLD  11 

did,  for  an  hour  or  two,  without  seeing  that  he  had  an 
extraordinary  quickness  of  perception,  and  a  power  of 
statement  that  made  others  see  things  as  he  saw  them. 
Even  I,  outsider  as  I  was,  and  ignorant  of  such  matters 
as  a  man  of  books  is  apt  to  be,  began  to  see  a  little  into 
the  magnitude  of  the  work  and  the  greatness  of  the  man. 
Such  a  man  inspires  confidence  in  his  judgment,  and 
infuses  into  others  a  portion  of  his  own  indomitable 
spirit,  so  that  they  are  ready  to  follow  where  he  leads 
the  way.  He  had  to  take  great  responsibilities.  An 
industrial  force  composed  of  thousands  of  men  is  an 
army,  and  can  only  be  made  efficient  by  a  sort  of  military 
discipline,  that  requires  a  military  genius ;  that  is,  a 
genius  for  organization  and  for  leadership,  in  both  which 
I  have  seen  few  men  so  masterful.  Not  only  did  he  take 
in  every  situation  at  a  glance,  and  see  the  thing  to  be 
done,  and  done  on  the  instant,  but  he  had  a  restless 
activity,  which  enabled  him  to  be  in  a  dozen  places  at 
once,  guiding,  directing,  and  inspiring — keeping  his  army 
well  in  hand,  filling  up  the  ranks  and  pushing  on  the 
reserves,  so  that  there  should  be  no  false  movement,  and 
no  wasted  labor.  These  are  the  qualities  of  a  great 
commander,  a  proud  title,  but  one  to  which  few  men 
have  so  just  a  claim. 

That  I  am  not  alone  in  my  estimate  of  the  value  of 
his  services  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  have  been 
fully  recognized  by  the  Government.  Republics  may  be 
ungrateful,  but  royalties  are  not  so  forgetful,  with  whom 
it  is  among  the  traditions  of  honor  to  remember  by  some 
title  or  tribute  those  who  have  rendered  services  to  the 
State,  whether  victories  in  war,  or  achievements  in  peace ; 
and  the  fact  that  our  countryman  is  now  Sir  William  C. 
Van  Home,  President  of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  is  the 


12  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

best  proof  of  the  way  in  which  he  is  regarded  in  the 
Dominion  that  he  has  served  so  well.  And  we  may 
add,  not  one  country  only,  for  a  railway  that  spans  a 
continent  and  unites  two  oceans,  and  so  brings  Western 
Europe  nearer  to  Eastern  Asia,  is  a  service  to  civilization, 
as  it  is  a  means  of  promoting  the  friendly  intercourse  of 
mankind. 

But  delightful  as  it  was  to  listen  to  one  who  had  done 
so  much  to  make  history,  our  interview  had  to  come  to 
an  end,  for  we  had  the  long  journey  across  the  continent 
before  us,  and  on  the  second  day  in  the  afternoon  we 
turned  westward. 

A  few  hours  brought  us  to  Ottawa,  the  capital  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  where  Parliament  was  now  in  ses- 
sion ;  and  though  it  was  ten  o'clock  at  night,  we  saw  the 
Parliament  House  lighted  up  across  the  river,  (for  it 
stands  on  a  river,  as  the  Parliament  House  in  London 
stands  on  the  Thames).  It  is  a  noble  pile,  even  if  we 
cannot  quite  agree  with  the  Canadians  in  thinking  it 
almost  equal  to  the  grander  pile  that  stands  opposite 
Westminster  Abbey.  As  I  had  an  order  of  admission 
from  the  Speaker,  we  were  shown  into  his  private 
gallery,  from  which  we  looked  down  upon  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  saw  the  Prime  Minister,  Sir  John 
Thompson,  sitting  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Bench. 
I  met  him  last  year  in  Paris,  where  he  was  one  of  the 
British  commissioners  on  the  Bering  Sea  Arbitration ; 
and  though  my  acquaintance  was  of  the  slightest,  he 
had  then  received  me  so  cordially  that  I  ventured  to 
send  him  my  card.  He  came  out  immediately  and  gave 
us  a  hearty  welcome,  and  took  us  into  his  private  room, 
and  talked  of  Canadian  politics  (there  had  just  been  an 
election  in  the  great  Province  of  Ontario,  which  had  gone 


THE   LONGEST  RAILROAD   IN  THE   WORLD  13 

against  him)  without  any  show  of  partisan  feeling.  Men 
of  all  parties  concede  that  he  is  a  man  of  very  great  abil- 
ity, as  well  as  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  country. 
Canada  is  fortunate  in  having  such  a  Prime  Minister,  and 
at  the  same  time  having  Lord  Aberdeen,  the  intimate 
and  trusted  friend  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  as  its  Governor- 
General.  He  is  one  of  the  purest  and  best  of  the  public 
men  of  England,  while  Lad}^  Aberdeen  is  the  leader  in 
all  charities.  Such  examples  in  high  station  are  worth 
everything  to  the  good  government  and  official  life  of 
Canada. 

Sir  John  Thompson  spoke  of  the  relations  of  England 
and  America,  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that  every 
cause  of  irritation  between  the  two  countries  had  been 
removed  by  the  Bering  Sea  Arbitration ;  and  as  for 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  as  they  were  the  nearest 
neighbors,  they  should  remain  forever  the  closest  friends. 

This  brief  interview  I  recall  with  the  greater  interest, 
that,  within  a  few  months  after,  one  whose  future  was 
so  full  of  promise  came  to  the  end  of  his  career.  No 
Englishman  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  more  trusted  by 
the  Home  Government,  by  which  he  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Privy  Council,  and  summoned  to  London  to 
receive  the  great  honor,  and  with  the  ministers  went  to 
Windsor  Castle  to  be  presented  to  the  Queen,  where  he 
was  suddenly  stricken  with  death.  The  event  created 
a  great  sensation  in  England  as  well  as  in  Canada.  A 
ship  of  war  brought  his  remains  to  Halifax,  where  he 
was  laid  to  rest,  with  a  military  display  such  as  has  sel- 
dom been  witnessed.  He  was  only  in  his  fiftieth  year. 

As  we  parted,  he  expressed  great  regret  that  I  could 
not  remain  till  the  next  day,  when  there  was  to  be  a 
meeting  of  colonial  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  world 


14  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

— from  Melbourne  and  Sydney  and  South  Africa,  even 
from  the  Dutch  State  nearest  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
etc.,  to  see  if  they  could  not  combine  in  efforts  to  pro- 
mote their  freer  mutual  intercourse,  and  their  common 
good,  by  increased  means  of  communication,  subsidizing 
new  lines  of  ships,  and  laying  submarine  telegraphs  to 
the  Sandwich  Islands  and  to  the  great  ports  of  Australia 
and  New  Zealand.  This  would  be  a  first  step  towards 

"A  parliament  of  nations,  the  federation  of  the  world." 

With  such  a  picture  of  the  good  time  coming,  it  was 
hard  not  to  be  able  to  wait  over  one  day  to  see  the 
dawning  of  the  millennium.  But  even  the  prophecy,  if 
it  were  only  a  beautiful  dream,  was  a  vision  that  shone 
in  the  distance,  like  the  lights  in  the  Parliament  House, 
as  we  sailed  away  into  the  silence  and  darkness  of  the 
night. 


ON  THE  NORTH  SHOKE  OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR 

To  wake  up  in  a  sleeper  on  a  train  bound  for  the  Pacific 
is  like  waking  up  at  sea.  We  have  lost  our  bearings  and 
hardly  know  the  points  of  compass.  But  we  rub  our 
eyes,  and,  when  we  are  sufficiently  awake  to  take  our  lati- 
tude and  longitude,  find  that  we  are  not  in  mid-ocean  but 
in  mid-Ontario,  in  the  heart  of  what  used  to  be  called 
Upper  Canada — a  territory  that  is  almost  as  boundless 
as  the  sea,  and  as  lonely  also  in  the  gloom  of  its  forests. 
Even  in  its  more  settled  portions,  towns  and  villages  do 
not  crowd  on  each  other  here  as  in  New  England,  while 
cities  are  few  and  far  between ;  so  that  the  general 
impression  of  the  country,  as  one  rides  over  it,  is  of  mag- 
nificent distances,  rather  than  of  a  dense  population. 
Still  the  land  is  cultivated,  and  the  settlements  along  the 
road  are  alive  with  the  hum  of  industry.  The  sawmills 
are  as  frequent  an  object  in  the  landscape  as  windmills 
in  Holland,  and  around  them  are  piles  of  lumber  and 
booms  of  logs  that  have  been  floated  down  the  rivers. 
This  is  an  industry  that  is  grateful  to  more  senses  than 
one ;  the  sound  of  the  buzzing  of  the  saw  is  not  unmusical 
to  the  ear,  while  the  traveller  inhales  with  delight  the 
sweet  odor  of  the  pines.  The  forests  of  Canada  are  said 
to  be  inexhaustible.  It  is  a  fact  of  cheer  to  us,  as  we 
see  the  forests  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  falling  before 


16  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

the  axe,  to  know  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  border 
there  is  a  supply  that  will  last  for  generations  to 
come. 

As  a  railroad  centre,  the  chief  point  of  interest  is  Sud- 
bury,  where  we  come  to  the  parting  of  the  ways  or,  rather, 
are  overtaken  by  another  train  from  Montreal,  called  the 
"  Soo  Express,"  which  is  bound  to  the  southwest,  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Huron,  till,  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  miles,  it  strikes  the  "  Soo "  (the  Sault 
Ste.  Marie),  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  that  is  spanned 
by  an  enormous  iron  bridge,  over  which  the  train  passes 
into  "  the  States,"  careering  through  "Wisconsin  into 
Minnesota,  and  from  St.  Paul  turning  again  (like  a  lost 
child  that  has  strayed  away  from  its  mother)  to  the  north- 
west; and,  after  another  long  stretch  through  North 
Dakota,  reentering  the  Dominion,  far  away  in  Assini- 
boia,  where  it  joins  the  trunk  line  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific. 

But,  inviting  as  this  route  might  be,  we  who  were 
bound  straight  for  Alaska  kept  to  the  train  in  which  we 
were  embarked,  and  bore  away  still  farther  to  the  north, 
around  the  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  the  largest  body  of 
fresh  water  on  the  globe,  with  a  coast-line  worthy  of  its 
greatness. 

To  the  wandering  Scot  it  seems  as  if  he  were  in  the 
stormy  Hebrides,  in  the  Sound  of  Mull,  as  he  looks  at  the 
great  basaltic  columns  standing  out  of  the  water  and  in 
the  water,  while  the  railway,  darting  in  and  out  of  in- 
numerable tunnels,  reminds  one  of  the  course  along  the 
Riviera,  at  the  foot  of  the  Maritime  Alps,  which  bend 
their  heads  and  stoop  so  proudly  to  the  Mediterranean, 
compelling  those  who  would  find  a  way  between  the 
mountains  and  the  sea  to  force  a  passage  through  the 


ON  THE  NORTH  SHORE  OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR     17 

solid  rock.  Here  the  subterranean  plunge  is  repeated, 
though  against  far  greater  obstacles.  There  are  rocks 
and  rocks.  Some  are  so  friable  that  they  almost  crumble 
to  the  touch  or  are  broken  in  pieces  by  the  slightest 
explosion  of  gunpowder,  while  others  yield  only  to  heavy 
charges  of  dynamite  ;  and  nothing  in  the  spurs  of  the 
Alps  had  such  a  power  of  resistance  as  the  cliffs  of 
basalt  on  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  of  which 
it  is  not  enough  to  say  that  it  is  rock-bound,  for  it  is  iron- 
bound,  requiring  the  utmost  skill  of  man  to  break  through 
it  or  to  batter  it  down.  This  was  the  hardest  nut  to 
crack  in  the  construction  of  the  Canadian  railway  across 
the  continent — an  obstacle  more  formidable  even  than 
the  triple  range  of  mountains  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Nor  is  this  iron-bound  shore  without  its  historical  asso- 
ciations, as  we  find  in  touching  at  Port  Arthur  and  Fort 
William,  with  its  Thunder  Bay,  old  stations  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company. 

At  last  we  leave  the  lake  behind  and  bear  away  into 
the  interior,  through  interminable  woods,  which,  how- 
ever, are  not  very  grand,  as  they  have  been  in  many 
places  burnt  over,  leaving  but  charred  trunks  that  look 
like  spooks,  if  you  should  happen  to  pass  through  them 
in  the  moonlight.  But  in  the  daytime  this  sombre  land- 
scape is  relieved  by  hundreds  of  small  lakes,  which  are  so 
still  that  they  seem  to  be  scattered  along  the  dark  forest- 
road  only  to  reflect  the  fleecy  clouds  that  are  sailing 
across  the  sky. 

As  we  push  westward,  the  country  rises  gently,  till  it 
reaches  an  altitude  of  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  at  which  the  waters  divide,  those  on  the 
one  side  flowing  into  the  Lakes,  while  those  on  the  other 
turn  towards  the  Pole,  the  rivulets  trickling  into  streams, 


18  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

till  the  streams  are  swollen  into  rivers,  that  take  their 
long  and  winding  course  (but  in  one  general  direction,  as 
if  following  "the  North  Star),  till  they  find  rest  in  the 
waters  of  Hudson  Bay. 

At  this  high  level  and  high  latitude — for  we  are  on  the 
fiftieth  parallel — the  cold  is  at  the  extreme ;  the  winters 
are  long,  and  the  mercury  drops  down,  down,  till  not 
unfrequently  it  touches  forty  degrees  below  zero,  and 
freezes  in  the  bulb  !  At  this  temperature  it  might  seem 
that  life  could  hardly  exist,  and  yet  the  realm  of  frost 
and  snow  has  its  own  life ;  which,  perchance,  is  not  less 
full  of  pleasure  than  ours.  Man  cannot  slumber  at  noon- 
tide as  in  tropical  climes.  The  sharp  frost  pricks  him  to 
wakefulness,  and  he  finds  his  keenest  delight  in  intense 
activity.  With  the  jingle  of  sleigh  bells,  one  might,  now 
and  then,  give  himself,  by  way  of  variety,  the  pleasure 
of  a  ride  with  a  team  of  dogs.  These  are  for  the  most 
part  left  to  the  Indians,  or  half-breeds,  who  come  from 
the  North  in  sledges  laden  with  furs.  But  in  these  days, 
when  horses  are  exchanged  for  bicycles,  it  might  be  an 
agreeable  revival  of  the  old  times  if  visitors  from  abroad 
could  be  entertained  with  a  ride  in  the  real  old  Esqui- 
maux fashion.  Dogs  can  go  where  horses  cannot ;  where 
the  heavy  hoofs,  shod  with  iron,  would  break  through 
the  crusted  snow,  it  may  be  hard  enough  to  bear  up  the 
weight  of  a  lighter  beast  of  burden,  whose  shaggy 
covering  protects  him  from  the  cold,  while  his  soft 
foot  rests  on  the  snow  as  that  of  the  camel  rests  on 
the  sand  of  the  desert.  A  stout  dog  will  draw  a 
hundred  pounds'  weight  all  day  long ;  and  a  full  team 
will  set  things  flying.  "We  saw  many  fine  specimens 
round  the  stations,  where  they  keep  watch  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  trains  and,  with  unerring  instinct,  make  for 


ON  THE  NORTH  SHORE  OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR     19 

the  car  which  sends  forth  a  savory  smell,  as  the  cook  is 
preparing  dinner  ;  and  a  niggardly  fellow  he  must  be  if 
he  does  not  reserve  some  bits  of  meat  for  these  faithful 
attendants,  who  stick  to  him  closer  than  a  brother.  He 
may  think  them  lazy  pensioners  on  his  bounty,  but  let 
him  wait  till  winter  comes,  and  they  will  pay  for  their 
keep  by  heroic  duty,  when  these  petted  household  com- 
panions are  harnessed  for  a  service  which  only  they  can 
perform.  The  woodman  himself  is  proof  against  the  ele- 
ments when  he  can  wrap  himself  in  furs  that  thoughtful 
nature  has  provided  for  this  arctic  climate,  and  there  is 
a  thrill  in  his  veins  as  he  speeds  over  the  smooth  surface 
with  a  swiftness  like  that  of  the  wind  itself.  Those  who 
make  a  study  of  pleasure  tell  us  of  the  exhilaration  of 
tobogganing,  but  this  is  tame  compared  to  that  of  being 
harnessed  to  a  team  of  Esquimaux  dogs  and  flying  in 
the  face  of  the  keen  and  frosty  air  over  the  untrodden 
snow. 

As  the  long  stretch  is  somewhat  monotonous,  we  turn 
to  books,  or  to  fellow-travellers  with  whom  we  may  be 
thrown  in  company.  The  first  morning  after  we  left 
Ottawa  I  had  observed  an  old  gentleman  sitting  apart, 
and  turning  to  him  as  one  who  might  give  me  informa- 
tion, I  asked  if  he  knew  anything  about  the  country,  or 
was,  like  myself,  a  stranger.  "  Oh,  yes,"  he  said ;  "  I 
know  it  well,  for  I  was  born  here ! "  This  took  me  aback, 
for  he  had  already  told  me  that  he  was  seventy-two 
years  old ;  and  seventy-two  years  ago  I  thought  there 
was  no  white  inhabitant  in  the  country,  or  any  way  of 
getting  up  the  St.  Lawrence.  But  this  reminded  me  that 
Winnipeg,  instead  of  being  a  new  settlement,  is  an  old 
one,  much  older  than  most  of  the  towns  and  cities  of  the 
United  States.  How  his  father  came  to  be  here,  was  an 


20  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

interesting  story.  In  the  first  decade  of  this  century, 
when  England  was  fighting  against  Napoleon,  a  young 
Scotchman  by  the  name  of  Sutherland  enlisted  in  the 
army  that  fought  under  Sir  John  Moore  in  Portugal, 
and  was  with  him  when  he  fell  at  Corunna,  after  which 
Wellington  took  command,  whom  the  young  infantry- 
man followed  in  all  his  campaigns  from  Portugal  into 
Spain,  and  across  it,  till  they  passed  the  Pyrenees  and  were 
on  the  soil  of  France,  and  so  on  and  on  till  1814,  when 
Napoleon  abdicated  and  retired  to  Elba.  Then,  thinking 
that  all  was  over,  he  was  mustered  out  of  service  and  re- 
turned to  his  native  Scotland.  But  what  was  there  for 
an  old  soldier  to  do  amid  the  peaceful  scenes  of  the 
Scottish  Highlands  ?  They  had  not  changed,  but  he  had 
changed  ;  "grim-visaged  war  "had  left  in  him  little  of  the 
ploughman  ;  and,  like  many  of  his  companions  in  arms, 
he  turned  his  eyes  across  the  sea,  and  there  determined 
to  make  his  home.  He  had  taken  his  passage,  and  gone 
on  board,  when  came  the  astounding  report  that  Na- 
poleon had  escaped  from  Elba  and  the  war  was  to  begin 
again !  "  Had  the  news  come  in  the  morning,"  the  old 
man  was  wont  to  say  in  after  years,  "  I  should  have  left 
the  ship  and  gone  back  and  taken  my  place  in  the  ranks." 
Perhaps  he  might  have  fallen  at  Waterloo.  But  the  hour 
was  late,  night  was  coming  on,  and  he  decided  to  commit 
himself  to  the  waves.  In  those  days  it  was  a  long  pas- 
sage across  the  sea.  But  after  many  weeks  he  entered 
the  strait  that  leads  to  Hudson  Bay,  and  crossing  the 
country  by  the  Indian  trail,  and  the  portage  familiar  to 
trappers  and  traders,  at  last  reached  Winnipeg,  where 
the  old  soldier  found  a  good  Scotchwoman  who  was 
willing  to  share  his  humble  fortunes,  and  they  had  sons 
and  daughters  born  to  them.  And  that  this  venture  in 


ON  THE  NORTH  SHORE  OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR     21 

the  New  World  was  not  without  success  was  sufficiently 
proved  in  the  person  of  his  son,  who  is  a  senator  for  life 
in  the  Canadian  Parliament,  now  assembled  in  the  Capi- 
tol at  Ottawa. 

As  I  listened  to  this  story,  which  was  told  with  the  ut- 
most simplicity,  it  was  as  if  I  had  fallen  upon  one  of  our 
own  veterans,  who  had  himself,  or  whose  father  had, 
perilled  his  life  for  his  country.  It  added  to  a  certain 
confusion  of  mind  that  has  been  growing  upon  me  ever 
since  I  crossed  the  line;  for,  hard  as  I  may  try,  /  can- 
not feel  that  lam  in  a  foreign  country.  The  people  are 
too  much  like  our  own  "  folks  " — they  have  the  same 
Saxon  features,  and  if  I  would  speak  with  them,  it  is  in 
the  same  dear  old  mother  tongue.  True,  I  meet,  as  in 
this  case,  with  many  a  canny  Scot,  and  am  sometimes 
answered  in  an  Irish  brogue,  though  not  so  often  as  on 
the  other  side  of  the  border  ;  but  these  little  idiosyncra- 
sies of  look  and  of  speech  only  give  a  pleasing  variety 
to  what  would  otherwise  be  the  monotony  of  common 
life.  After  all,  we  are  but  one  people,  and  these  natural 
affinities  will  draw  us  together  without  a  political  union. 
Indeed,  any  suggestion  of  the  latter,  it  seems  to  me,  is 
rather  to  be  discouraged  in  the  interest  of  a  real  and 
genuine  harmony.  Last  year  I  was  in  Paris,  and  had 
the  pleasure  of  an  hour  with  Lord  Dufferin,  whose 
splendid  career  as  Governor- General  of  India  has  not 
abated  in  the  least  his  interest  in  the  country  of  which 
he  was  Governor-General  before.  In  the  course  of  con- 
versation he  asked  me  if  there  was  a  party  in  the  United 
States  that  was  trying  to  bring  about  the  annexation  of 
Canada?  To  this  I  answered  without  hesitation,  "No," 
adding  that,  if  in  the  course  of  time  there  should  be  a 
natural  gravitation  towards  each  other,  which  should  end 


22  OUR  WESTEBN  ARCHIPELAGO 

in  a  union  that  was  not  forced,  but  spontaneous,  no 
doubt  our  country  would  be  very  proud  of  this  accession 
to  its  greatness,  but  that  it  was  not  a  question  in  Ameri- 
can politics,  and  that  such  a  thing  as  an  annexation  party 
did  not  exist ;  that  on  the  contrary  we  were  perfectly 
content  to  let  things  remain  as  they  are,  living  in  the 
best  relations  with  those  on  our  northern  frontier.  He 
thought  it  better  that  there  should  be  two  countries  and 
two  governments  than  one,  in  which  many  of  our  most 
thoughtful  observers  will  agree  with  him.  Our  country 
is  certainly  big  enough  to  satisfy  any  reasonable  ambi. 
tion,  and  it  were  but  madness  (and  nations,  like  individ- 
uals, are  subject  to  fits  of  insanity)  to  go  on  swallowing 
up  "all  creation."  But  we  should  not  be  so  ready  to 
agree  in  his  opinion  that  the  government  of  Canada  is 
better  than  ours,  and  still  less  in  one  reason  that  he  gave 
for  it,  that  it  is  "  more  democratic"  But  if  we  reflect  a 
moment,  we  shall  see  that  there  is  some  foundation  even 
for  this  ;  for  while  the  Governor-General  is  appointed  by 
the  Queen,  yet  both  in  Canada  and  in  England  itself, 
public  opinion  acts  more  directly  upon  the  government 
than  in  the  United  States.  If  the  House  of  Commons 
were  to  pass  a  vote  against  the  ministry  to-night,  Lord 
Rosebery  would  resign  to-morrow ;  but  Congress  might 
pass  any  number  of  votes  against  the  policy  of  the 
present  administration,  and  yet  Mr.  Cleveland  would 
remain  undisturbed  in  his  seat,  and  keep  his  Cabinet  with 
him,  till  the  end  of  the  four  years  for  which  he  was 
elected. 

But  without  discussing  the  relative  merits  of  the  two 
forms  of  government  of  Canada  and  the  United  States, 
the  main  thing  is  that  the  two  countries  should  live  in 
perfect  harmony.  To  this  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  that 


ON  THE  NORTH  SHORE  OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR     23 

there  should  be  a  political  connection.  We  may  like 
each  other  all  the  better  that  our  relations  are  uncon- 
strained. Even  brothers  sometimes  feel  a  little  more  at 
ease  with  each  other,  when  they  keep  up  separate  estab- 
lishments. I  was  happy  to  assure  Lord  Dufferin,  to 
whom  Canada  owes  so  much,  that  on  our  side  of  the 
line,  so  far  from  looking  upon  the  territory  on  the 
other  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence  as  a  Naboth's  vineyard, 
there  was  among  us  the  most  generous  appreciation  of 
a  country  that  in  popular  regard  is  second  only  to  our 
own. 

This  expresses  the  general,  if  not  the  universal,  feeling 
in  the  United  States  towards  Canada.  Certainly  if  there 
be  any  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  with  whom  we 
should  live,  not  only  at  peace,  but  in  relations  of  good  will 
and  mutual  kindness,  it  is  those  at  the  North,  who  are 
our  neighbors,  as  well  as  our  kinsmen  ;  whom  the  Kuler 
of  nations  has  joined  together  by  nearness  of  habitation 
as  well  as  by  ties  of  blood,  since  the  boundary  between 
us  is  one  that  unites  as  well  as  divides.  Looking  at  the 
map  of  North  America,  we  see  how  our  very  territory  is 
interlocked  by  a  chain  of  lakes  which  stretch  out  their 
mighty  arms  east  and  west,  north  and  south,  till  the 
two  great  confederations  have  literally  "  locked  arms " 
with  each  other — not  like  gladiators  in  deadly  combat, 
but  like  kindred  in  a  brotherly  embrace. 

These  inland  waters  bring  us  much  nearer  together 
than  would  any  approaches  by  land,  because  of  the  com- 
merce that  is  always  passing  to  and  fro  over  them.  The 
thousands  of  sails  that  skim  the  waves  are  so  many  white- 
winged  messengers  of  peace,  flying  to  and  fro  like  doves 
to  their  windows.  With  such  tokens  of  good  will  in  the 
very  earth  and  air  and  on  the  sea,  who  that  loves  his 


24  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

country,  or  that  loves  mankind,  will  not  pray  that  the 
relations  between  Canada  and  the  United  States  may 
become  closer  and  closer ;  that,  as  we  love  nations  that 
are  far  away,  still  more  do  we  love  those  at  our  own 
doors  who  are  bound  to  us  by  the  closest  ties  of  kin- 
dred, of  race,  of  language,  and  of  religion  ? 


CHAPTER  III 
IN  RUPERT'S  LAND — THE  HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY 

SOME  years  ago  I  was  talking  with  the  head  of  the 
great  house  of  Harper  and  Brothers  about  countries  that 
we  had  seen  or  wished  to  see,  when  suddenly,  as  if  a  new 
thought  had  struck  him,  he  said,  "  One  region  that  I  want 
to  see  is  that  lying  on  the  Eed  River  of  the  North ! "  I 
should  not  have  been  more  surprised  if  he  had  expressed 
a  desire  to  "interview"  the  King  of  the  Cannibal  Islands. 
What  and  where •  was  the  Red  River  of  the  North?  I 
had  a  vague  impression  of  some  outlying  part  of  North 
America,  away  up  towards  the  North  Pole,  where  in 
days  gone  by  there  had  been  a  petty  rebellion  got  up  by 
a  half-breed  (in  whom  the  savage  instinct  of  the  Indian 
had  been  made  more  quick  and  fiery  by  an  infusion  of 
French  blood),  which  Lord  Wolseley,  when  in  com- 
mand in  Canada,  had  made  a  forced  march,  from  Fort 
William  on  Lake  Superior  through  the  wilderness,  to 
suppress.  But  that  was  not  a  thing  to  be  remembered 
any  more  than  a  plague  of  grasshoppers.  And  now  here 
I  am  standing  on  the  bridge  that  crosses  that  unknown 
river,  and  wondering  "  where  I  am  at."  It  is  not  much 
of  a  river,  and,  indeed,  seems  conscious  of  its  inferiority, 
as  it  shuns  observation,  turning  away  from  the  more 
populous  south  and  hiding  its  littleness  in  northern  wilds 
and  woods,  till  it  is  almost  buried  in  ice  and  snow. 

And  yet  here  is  a  town — or  rather  let  me  say  a  city, 


26  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

for  it  has  thirty  thousand  inhabitants — which  has  a  his- 
tory dating  back  to  a  period  long  before  our  Western 
cities  and  States  were  heard  of.  Its  appearance  is,  indeed, 
rather  of  the  new  order  of  things,  after  the  pattern  of 
our  young  cities  of  the  West,  of  which  the  leading  feature 
is  one  long  wide  street,  with  here  and  there  a  pretentious 
building  intermingled  with  cheap  wooden  structures. 
The  two  that  are  most  conspicuous  are  the  Town  Hall 
and  the  Northern  Pacific  Hotel,  that  great  trans-con- 
tinental line  having  stretched  out  one  of  its  long  arms 
to  touch  the  rich  wheat-fields  of  Manitoba.  But  the 
new  jostles  us  almost  painfully  when  we  step  into  an 
electric  car  and  ride  through  the  one  long  street  to  the 
bridge  that  spans  the  chief  arm  of  this  mighty  Red  River 
of  the  North.  As  I  walked  slowly  across  it,  and  looked 
down  upon  the  stream  (that  has  not  even  the  recommen- 
dation of  a  rapid  current  to  compensate  for  lack  of  vol- 
ume), it  was  with  the  feeling  of  disappointment  that  I 
once  had  in  Nova  Scotia  in  riding  through  the  Acadia 
which  Longfellow  has  described  in  his  Evangeline,  when 
I  was  amazed  that  out  of  such  slender  materials  the  poet 
could  construct  such  a  paradise  of  beauty. 

And  yet  the  poet  may  be  wiser  than  the  dull,  prosaic 
traveller.  He  sees  things  which  the  latter  does  not  see, 
and,  gathering  up  the  threads  of  history,  throws  over 
scenes  and  characters  the  warm  light  of  his  imagination, 
and  makes  times  past  to  live  again. 

And  so  Winnipeg,  dull  and  commonplace  as  it  looks, 
has  a  history  that  invests  it  with  an  interest  that  belongs 
to  few  portions  of  the  western  continent,  as  it  was  the 
chief  post  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  that  mysterious 
power  that  for  nearly  two  centuries  held  dominion  over 
a  large  part  of  North  America.  Here  is  a  romance,  yet 


IN  RUPERT'S  LAND — THE  HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY     27 

to  be  told  in  song  or  story.  To  begin  at  the  beginning 
one  would  need  to  go  back  two  hundred  years  and  more. 
In  the  year  1670 — only  fifty  years  after  the  Pilgrims 
landed  on  Plymouth  Rock — Charles  the  Second,  not  "  of 
blessed  memory,"  bestowed  upon  Prince  Eupert,  the 
famous  cavalry  officer  who  fought  against  Cromwell  in 
the  Civil  "Wars,  the  title  to  a  large  country  in  North 
America;  how  large  or  how  valuable  he  probably  did 
not  know  nor  care.  In  those  days  even  the  geographers 
of  Europe  had  but  little  knowledge  of  the  unexplored 
portions  of  the  habitable  globe,  and  a  king  gave  away  a 
distant  territory  more  readily  than  he  would  have  parted 
with  one  of  the  crown  jewels.  Near  the  beginning  of 
the  century  an  English  mariner,  by  the  name  of  Hudson, 
had  made  voyages  to  the  coast  of  North  America,  in  one 
of  which  he  discovered  a  noble  river  flowing  to  the  sea, 
to  which  he  gave  his  name ;  and,  the  year  after,  a  bay 
farther  to  the  north  and  farther  inland,  that  was  con- 
nected only  by  a  strait  with  the  Atlantic.  The  island  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river  was  preoccupied  by  the  Dutch,  so 
that  an  English  king  could  not  give  that  away,  but  the 
bay  was  as  undefined  as  the  moon,  and  Charles  tossed  it 
to  his  gallant  soldier  as  lightly  as  he  would  have  put  a 
ring  on  the  finger  of  one  of  the  lady  favorites  of  the 
court.  The  wording  of  the  patent  is  peculiar.  It  was 
to  Rupert,  from  whom  it  was  called  "  Rupert's  Land," 
as  he  was  to  be  its  lord  and  potentate,  and  fourteen  of 
his  associates,  who  are  fitly  designated  as  "  the  Governor 
and  company  of  adventurers  trading  into  Hudson  Bay  ; " 
and  conferred  a  title  to  "  the  sole  trade  "  in  all  the  country 
round,  or,  as  it  was  designated,  in  "  all  the  lands  watered 
by  streams  flowing  into  the  Bay."  Thus  a  hundred  years 
before  Wolfe  fought  with  Montcalm  on  the  Heights  of 


28  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

Abraham,  while  France  still  held  the  Province  of  Quebec 
and  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  English  power 
extended  far  into  the  interior,  the  frozen  north,  which  it 
reached  by  Hudson  Bay — a  long  and  roundabout  way, 
since  it  is  open  only  two  months  in  the  year. 

This  was  a  prodigious  gift,  as  it  conveyed  a  territory 
large  enough  for  a  kingdom,  with  all  the  rights  of  sover- 
eignty ;  for,  although  the  concession  was  nominally  for 
purposes  of  trade  and  commerce,  yet,  in  a  wild  region 
where  there  was  no  established  authority,  the  new  Com- 
pany had  to  assume,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  the  right  to 
make  laws  and  punish  crimes,  and  so,  with  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  as  with  the  East  India  Company,  the 
trading  corporation  grew  into  a  government  that  by  de- 
grees became  possessed  of  despotic  power. 

How  absolute  this  power  might  be,  not  only  over  the 
natives,  but  over  its  own  subordinates,  is  illustrated  in 
the  strange  history  of  a  man  still  living,  whose  name 
is  honored  in  every  part  of  the  Dominion.  More  than 
half  a  century  ago  a  young  Scotchman  came  from  his 
native  land  to  take  a  place  in  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, which  (we  cannot  doubt  from  what  we  know  of 
his  character)  he  served  with  scrupulous  fidelity.  Yet 
one  day  an  Indian  runner  came  to  him  with  an  order  to 
leave  his  post  in  one  hour  (he  was  not  even  permitted  to 
wait  to  pack  his  clothing,  which  he  was  informed  would 
be  sent  after  him)  and  betake  himself  to  Labrador !  This 
was  like  an  exile  to  Siberia;  yet  no  explanation  was 
given.  The  reason  was  a  profound  mystery.  Yet  for 
him  who  received  it  there  was  but  one  course — that  of 
instant  obedience ; 

Not  his  to  ask  the  reason  why, 
His  but  to  do  or  die — 


IN  RUPERT'S  LAND — THE  HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY     29 

and  he  obeyed.  Without  a  word  of  remonstrance  he  left 
the  place  where  he  had  begun  to  feel  at  home,  and  betook 
himself  to  a  distant  and  inhospitable  shore  where  he  was 
kept  for  twenty-three  years  (!)  when,  on  the  death  of  the 
Governor,  he  was  recalled,  and  as  he  had  borne  himself 
with  the  utmost  fidelity  in  all  this  trying  time,  he  rose 
quickly  in  the  service  of  the  Company,  and  finally  became 
its  Governor,  an  office  which  he  still  holds,  sitting  in  the 
seat  of  the  very  man  who  sent  him  into  exile !  *  His 
elevation  did  not  upset  him  now  any  more  than  his 
humiliation  before.  He  came  back,  not  soured  and  em- 
bittered against  the  world  which  had  treated  him  so 
harshly,  but  with  all  the  sweetness  of  his  nature  kept  fresh 
and  pure.  In  his  new  position  he  grew  in  the  esteem  of 
his  countrymen,  so  that  there  is  to-day  no  name  more  hon- 
ored in  all  the  Dominion  than  that  of  Sir  Donald  Smith. 
Here  is  history  and  mystery,  with  all  the  elements  of 
a  poem  or  a  tragedy.  Where  could  be  found  a  more 
fascinating  story  than  this  of  a  commercial  enterprise 
that  began  to  be  in  a  very  modest  and  quiet  way,  as  a 
company  of  traders  or  "  adventurers,"  engaged  in  collect- 
ing f  urs,  an  occupation  which  led  them  to  employ  hunters 

*  In  mitigation  of  this  apparent  harshness,  an  old  settler  said  to 
me:  "What  seems  like  cruelty  may  not  have  been  so  intended.  But 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  a  sort  of  military  organization,  which 
had  to  be  governed  by  military  discipline,  and  ordered  its  subor- 
dinates to  distant  stations  and  perilous  services,  not  as  a  punish- 
ment for  offences,  but  as  posts  of  danger  which  could  only  be  held 
by  those  who  had  the  true  spirit  of  a  soldier.  The  very  fact  that  it 
was  a  post  of  loneliness  and  privation  made  it  a  post  of  honor,  in 
which  the  young  and  the  brave  might  find  a  patli  to  glory  and  to 
power,  as  it  proved  to  be  in  this  very  case,  when,  after  twenty-three 
years  of  faithful  service,  he  came  back  to  take  the  highest  place  of 
honor  and  of  trust  at  the  head  of  the  Company." 


30  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

and  trappers,  whose  very  business  was  in  the  silence  of 
the  northern  wilds,  and  yet  whose  masters  were  all  the 
time  creeping  forward  through  those  wilds,  with  the  soft, 
catlike  step  of  the  beasts  that  they  hunted,  stealing 
towards  power,  till  at  last  they  held  undisputed  dominion 
from  the  Lakes  to  the  Arctic  Circle  ?  With  such  a  back- 
ground of  nature,  and  such  a  mingling  of  races,  savage 
and  civilized,  it  needs  but  a  poet  or  a  historian  to  set  the 
figures — red  and  white,  priest  and  warrior,  in  full  array 
— and  make  the  "  sheeted  dead  "  stalk  across  the  stage  of 
history. 

But  history  and  mystery  fade  away  as  we  leave  Winni- 
peg behind,  and  have  before  us  a  very  substantial  reality 
in  the  mighty  plain  that  reaches  from  the  water-shed  of 
the  Great  Lakes  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains  that  border 
the  Pacific  Coast.  The  formation  of  this  vast  plateau  is 
a  problem  for  the  geologist.  It  is  not  undulating  like 
our  western  prairies,  but  level  as  a  sea  floor,  which  per- 
haps it  once  was.  In  some  prehistoric  period  it  may 
have  been  the  bed  of  an  ocean,  which  in  the  fullness  of 
time  was  drained  off  through  the  lakes,  leaving  the  soft 
and  slimy  ooze  to  be  warmed  by  the  sun  till  it  was 
converted  into  a  garden  of  fertility.  But,  whatever  the 
explanation,  the  fact  is  here  of  a  plain  of  boundless 
extent,  which  is  one  of  the  granaries  of  the  world,  the 
wheat  fields  of  Manitoba  vying  with  those  of  Minnesota, 
the  value  of  which  is  multiplied  tenfold  as  the  produc- 
tion of  the  earth  is  increased  by  inventions  of  man  that 
are  mightier  than  himself.  The  great  operations  of 
agriculture  are  wrought  by  a  hand  that  is  longer  and 
stronger  than  that  of  man — a  hand  that  never  tires — the 
iron  hand  of  machinery.  In  these  inventions  the  late 
Mr.  McCormick  has  been  a  benefactor  to  his  race.  They 


IN  RUPERT'S  LAND — THE  HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY     31 

seem  to  cover  every  form  of  labor,  and  to  leave  to  man 
only  the  intelligence  to  direct.  When  the  sower  has 
scattered  the  seed  and  planted  it,  and  the  showers  of 
heaven  have  watered  it,  then  come  the  great  harvesters, 
the  mower  and  the  reaper  and  the  binder,  to  reap  and 
gather  into  barns  the  harvests  that  will  feed  untold  mil- 
lions. "With  such  implements  of  industry  to  multiply 
the  forces  of  man,  it  is  hard  to  put  a  limit  to  the  pro- 
ductions of  these  boundless  plains. 

This  is  a  sign  of  hope  on  the  horizon  of  the  future. 
So  long  as  the  country  is  but  thinly  peopled,  it  is  of  less 
importance  than  to  the  future  generations  that  will  yet 
fill  this  vast  domain.  To  them  it  will  be  of  infinite 
moment,  for  first  and  last  the  living  world  must  be  fed 
and  kept  in  being  by  dear  old  mother  earth.  Egypt 
was  made  populous  by  the  amazing  fertility  of  the  val- 
ley of  the  Nile,  as  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  fed  the 
swarming  multitudes  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon.  Reason- 
ing from  such  examples,  we  should  say  that  this  mid-con- 
tinent may  yet  support  a  population  like  that  of  China. 

But  for  the  present  China  is  not  here.  The  land  is 
indeed  swept  and  garnished  for  the  coming  millions,  but 
it  will  be  far  in  the  next  century  before  they  will  take 
possession.  Settlements  are  sprinkled  here  and  there 
along  the  road,  but  (with  the  exception  of  Brandon  and 
Portage  la  Prairie,  the  centres  of  the  wheat-fields)  they 
are  so  few  and  small  that  one  is  oppressed  with  a  feeling 
of  loneliness,  to  which  it  is  a  relief  to  see  now  and  then 
a  farm-house  in  the  distance,  and  hear  "the  watch- 
dog's honest  bark."  It  is  pleasant,  too,  to  see  the  herds 
cropping  the  rich  grass,  though  we  cannot  speak  of  "  the 
cattle  on  a  thousand  hills,"  for  the  hills  are  not  here, 
though  the  cattle  are. 


32  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

But  the  landscape,  taken  altogether,  is  tame  and 
monotonous  in  the  extreme.  To  most  of  those  who  pass 
rapidly  over  it  the  absence  of  towns  and  villages  takes 
away  the  only  objects  on  which  their  eyes  could  rest 
with  pleasure.  What  can  they  make  out  of  a  country 
that  is  as  flat  as  Holland,  without  the  picturesqueness  of 
the  quaint  old  towns,  or  the  windmiDs  and  canals?  To 
judge  from  the  recumbent  postures  in  which  my  fellow- 
travellers  are  stretched  in  these  "  sleepers  " — a  word  that 
has  an  equal  fitness  to  the  long  railway  carriages  and 
their  occupants — their  one  desire  is  to  get  over  the 
ground  as  quickly  as  possible.  For  this  long-distance 
travel,  the  Canadian  cars  are  better  than  ours  in  "  the 
States,"  in  that  the  middle  seats  of  the  drawing-rooms 
are  so  turned  about  in  the  daytime  as  to  be  converted 
into  sofas,  on  which  wearied  travellers  can  stretch  them- 
selves, instead  of  being  obliged  to  sit  bolt  upright  all 
day  long.  By  this  convenient  siesta  they  are  refreshed 
for  the  long  and  delicious  twilight  that  comes  in  the 
cool  of  the  day.  The  proof  of  the  excellence  of  this 
arrangement  is  that,  after  five  days'  riding,  night  and 
day,  I  did  not  feel  the  fatigue  more  than  from  much 
shorter  journeys  at  home. 

But  apart  from  the  fatigue,  the  mere  monotony  does 
not  weary  me.  I  am  so  "  contrary "  in  my  tastes,  that 
what  they  count  the  dullest  portion  of  this  long  journey 
is  to  me  the  most  restful ;  what  is  tiresome  to  them  has 
to  me  a  peculiar  fascination,  so  that  I  whisper  to  myself 
(what  they  would  be  shocked  to  hear),  "  Thank  the  Lord, 
there  is  nothing  to  see  in  a  thousand  miles ! "  Nature 
loves  contrasts.  A  week  ago  I  was  in  New  York,  which 
I  left  sick  and  tired  of  crowds  and  of  the  noise  of  city 
streets,  and  desiring  nothing  so  much  as  silence  and 


IN  RUPERT'S  LAND— THE  HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY     33 

solitude.  And  here  I  find  it.  There  is  no  fever  in  the 
blood,  but  perfect  rest  of  eye  and  ear,  of  nerves  and 
muscles  and  brain. 

Nor  does  the  time  pass  heavily,  for  I  am  never  less 
alone  than  when  alone.  If  I  have  no  companions,  my 
thoughts  will  keep  me  company.  It  is  enough  to  sit  and 
look  out  of  the  window,  when  the  clouds  flying  over  the 
sky  seize  my  fancies  and  carry  them  away  to  other  scenes 
and  other  experiences.  If  the  sun  is  going  down,  sinking 
in  the  plain  as  in  the  sea,  I  remember  an  evening  hour 
on  the  desert,  when,  mounted  on  my  camel,  I  looked 
across  the  Red  Sea  to  see  the  sunset  flame  over  the 
mountains  of  Africa.  Again,  this  vast  plateau  answers 
somewhat  to  the  idea  I  have  formed  of  the  Steppes  of 
Asia,  and  I  imagine  myself  riding  over  the  Siberian  rail- 
way, that  is  yet  to  do  for  the  greatest  of  continents  what 
this  Canadian  Railway,  with  our  own  transcontinental 
lines,  has  already  done  for  North  America.  So  the 
hours  do  not  pass  wearily,  but  only  in  a  happy  dream,  to 
which  the  gentle  voice  of  one  beside  me  is  no  interrup- 
tion. Is  there  anything  in  the  sunset  of  life  so  sweet  as 
these  golden  hours  when  even  old  men  dream  dreams 
and  see  visions  ? 

But  if  these  be  day  dreams,  what  are  those  of  the 
night,  when  the  firmament  itself  seems  to  shut  down 
close  on  the  horizon  ;  when  heaven  comes  down  to  earth  ; 
and  in  this  pure  atmosphere,  not  clouded  by  the  smoke 
of  cities,  the  stars  shine  as  on  the  desert !  Then  one's 
meditations  take  on  a  more  sober  hue ;  we  think  of  the 
distant  and  the  dead,  and  in  such  loving  and  inspiring 
memories  get  strength  for  what  remains  to  us  of  that 
pilgrimage  of  life,  of  which  all  our  journeyings  are  but  a 
part  and  a  preparation. 
3 


34  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

It  was  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  from  Winnipeg 
that  we  came  to  a  place  of  some  importance,  that  bears 
the  singular  name  of  Medicine  Hat,  derived,  we  believe, 
from  some  tradition  of  an  old  medicine-man  among  the 
Indians.  It  had  a  pleasanter  association  for  us  in  our 
meeting  here  with  Mr.  Niblock,  the  assistant  superin- 
tendent of  this  division  of  the  road,  to  whom  President 
Yan  Home  had  given  us  a  letter,  and  who  joined  us  at 
Banff,  and  gave  up  three  days  to  be  our  companion  and 
escort. 

"We  were  now  getting  near  the  end  of  the  mid-conti- 
nent, and  even  the  most  listless  travellers  were  beginning 
to  open  their  eyes  and  prick  up  their  ears  in  anticipation 
of  what  they  were  to  see  and  hear  on  the  morrow.  Once 
in  the  night  we  were  awakened  at  Calgary,  where,  look- 
ing out,  we  saw  dimly  a  station  built  of  stone,  a  sign 
that  we  were  getting  into  the  region  of  increased  habita- 
tion and  civilization.  Calgary,  the  very  name  of  which 
is  English,  is  the  centre  of  what  is  largely  an  English 
colony,  made  up  of  representatives  of  excellent  families 
at  home.  Some  of  these  true  English  gentlemen  (for  such 
they  are  by  birth  and  by  education)  we  met,  with  mem- 
bers of  their  families;  and  we  could  but  admire  the  brave 
spirit  of  the  high-bred  sons  and  daughters  of  England, 
who  had  left  the  beautiful  homes  of  the  dear  old  mother- 
land and  crossed  the  sea  to  make  a  home  for  themselves 
and  their  children  in  the  New  World.  And  now  the 
train  was  astir  with  the  announcement  that  we  were  to 
have  a  change  of  scene  ;  and  soon  all  were  in  a  state  of 
excitement  as,  in  the  gray  of  the  early  morning,  we  entered 
the  passes  of  the  mountains. 


CHAPTER  IV 

BANFF   AND   THE    KOOKY  MOUNTAIN   PARK 

THE  mountains  welcomed  us  with  the  sound  of  waters. 
It  is  the  beautiful  way  of  nature  to  beguile  us  into  the 
heart  of  her  mysteries.  Somewhere  up  in  the  clouds  a 
spring  bursts  forth  and  straightway  seeks  to  return  to 
mother  earth,  and,  as  it  presses  outward  and  downward, 
makes  a  path  for  its  soft,  silver  feet,  that  widens  and 
deepens,  till,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  there  is  an  open  passage 
on  the  mountain  side.  In  this  nature  serves  the  purpose 
of  man ;  for,  as  the  stream  winds  hither  and  thither  to 
reach  the  lower  levels  by  gentle  courses,  it  unwittingly 
indicates  the  path  of  the  engineer,  who,  if  he  would  scale 
these  mighty  barriers,  has  but  to  go  up  where  the  stream 
comes  down.  Almost  all  railways  that  cross  mountain 
ranges  find  a  pass  through  following  water  courses,  by 
which  they  not  only  gain  the  easiest  ascent,  but  follow 
the  curving  lines,  which  are  the  lines  of  beauty.  This 
is  the  peculiar  charm  of  railways  in  the  Alps — a  charm 
that  we  felt  at  daylight  as  we  were  running  along  the 
bank  of  the  beautiful  Bow  River,  which  leaps  from  the 
mountains  every  morning  and  greets  the  traveller  with 
as  much  warmth  as  if  it  had  never  seen  a  traveller  before, 
and  beckons  him  to  the  sweet  odor  of  the  pines  and  the 
first  gleam  of  sunrise  on  the  rocks  and  hills.  As  we  enter 
these  mountains,  we  find  that  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 


36  OUR   WESTERN    ARCHIPELAGO 

way  Company  (with  a  due  consideration,  not  only  of  the 
comfort  of  passengers,  but  of  the  pleasure  of  tourists) 
has  placed  at  the  end  of  the  train  an  observation  car 
open  at  both  sides,  from  which  we  have  an  unbroken  out- 
look in  every  direction.  Now  we  shoot  through  a  nar- 
row pass,  where  high  cliffs  frown  on  us  from  either  side, 
as  if  we  were  invaders  who  had  no  business  here ;  and 
though 

"  Stone  -walls  do  not  a  prison  make," 

it  would  be  depressing  to  live  where  one  would  be  in 
deep  shadow  twice  a  day,  at  the  rising  and  the  setting 
of  the  sun.  On  our  left  is  a  triplet  of  peaks  that  bear 
the  pretty  name  of  the  Three  Sisters,  to  whom,  having 
respect  to  their  sex,  we  uncover  our  heads,  and  offer  our 
morning  salutation,  but  are  pained  to  observe  that, 
though  they  belong  to  the  same  family,  and  must  have 
seen  each  other's  faces  every  morning  for  some  thousands 
of  years,  yet  they  stand  apart  as  cold  and  distant  as  ever ! 
It  would  seem  as  if  there  had  been  a  family  quarrel,  and 
they  couldn't  get  over  it.  This  is  a  sin  against  nature. 
If  they  had  been  three  brothers  we  could  understand  it, 
for  they  might  have  been  estranged  by  their  rival  ambi- 
tions. But  for  sisters  it  is  too  bad.  And  yet  here  they 
are,  with  no  signs  of  relenting,  and  we  fear  that,  with 
the  proverbial  obstinacy  of  the  sex,  they  will  keep  it  up 

"To  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time." 

We  see  no  help  for  it,  and  must  leave  them,  as  we 
leave  other  "good  haters"  who  "never  will  give  in,"  to 
their  mournful  isolation  and  eternal  solitude.  With  such 
merry  fancies,  as  well  as  straining  eyes,  we  are  whirled 
swiftly  along,  till,  while  it  is  still  the  early  morning,  we 


BANFF  AND   THE   EOCKY   MOUNTAIN   PARK  37 

draw  up  at  Banff,  and  descend  from  the  train  in  which 
we  have  come  all  the  way  from  Montreal,  a  distance  of 
two  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty -six  miles ! 

"Banff!"  And  what  is  Banff?  And  where  is  it? 
And  why  should  we  at  this  point  break  the  course  of  our 
transcontinental  pilgrimage  ?  "I  rise  to  explain." 

Canada  has  had  the  wisdom  of  following  in  some 
things  the  example  of  the  United  States.  We  have  not 
been  always  wise.  Sometimes  we  have  been  very  unwise  ; 
asd  in  nothing  more  so  than  in  the  reckless  and  lavish 
way  in  which  we  have  thrown  away  the  public  lands. 
To  this  national  folly  there  have  been  two  exceptions ; 
in  setting  apart  the  Yosemite  Valley  and  the  Yellow- 
stone Park  as  public  reservations,  not  to  be  invaded  by 
land  sharks  or  speculators,  or  even  by  settlers,  but  to  be 
kept  sacredly  for  the  people  of  the  country,  to  be  to  them 
and  their  children  "  a  possession  forever."  So  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Dominion,  finding  on  the  line  of  the  Cana- 
dian Pacific  Railway  a  region  in  which  mountains  are 
piled  together  in  masses,  sundered  by  deep  gorges, 
decided  not  to  throw  it  open,  like  other  public  lands,  to 
the  first  settlers  who  should  rush  in  and  cover  the  moun- 
tain sides  with  their  mining  camps,  but  to  keep  it  for 
those  who  could  appreciate  the  grandeur  of  its  Alpine 
scenery,  or  derive  healing  from  its  mineral  springs.  For 
their  benefit  this  Rocky  Mountain  Park  has  been  reserved 
as  an  inheritance  for  all  generations. 

Of  this  reservation  Banff  is  the  centre  and  the  soul. 
But  where  did  it  get  its  name  ?  There  is  such  a  place  in 
Scotland,  not  far  from  Aberdeen,  which  is  described  as  "  a 
fine  town,"  and  sends  a  member  to  Parliament.  What 
more  natural  than  that  this  old  Scotch  name  should  be 
transported  across  the  sea  ?  Perhaps  it  is  better  to  let  it 


38  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

remain  so,  for  a  more  searching  inquiry  might  disclose  a 
less  sacred  origin,  one  informant  telling  me  that  in  the 
old  Gaelic  "  banff  "  signified  "  sheol,"  which  would  indi- 
cate that  this  region  might  have  been  so  named  by  some 
disappointed  settler  because  of  its  savage  wildness,  that 
unfitted  it  for  the  habitation  of  man,  and  should  be  set 
apart  as  a  sort  of  Gehenna,  to  be  occupied  only  by  the 
outcast  and  the  unclean ! 

But  I  hear  a  whisper  in  my  ear :  "  Not  quite  so  bad  as 
that !  Don't  you  remember  that  he  added,  that,  while 
such  was  the  original  meaning  of  the  word,  yet  in  com- 
mon use  it  signified  only  a  wild  and  broken  country  ? 
And  surely  any  one  who  should  come  up  suddenly  on 
these  rugged  mountains  might  well  think  that  he  had 
reached  the  jumping-off  place." 

That  is  a  good  suggestion,  and  relieves  us  of  an  un- 
pleasant association.  A  word  less  strong  may  be  ad- 
mitted, especially  when  we  see  how  quickly  the  picture 
is  reversed ;  for,  if  any  rough  old  Highlander  had  it 
in  his  heart  to  bestow  an  ill  name  upon  this  mountain 
fastness,  he  would  be  surprised  indeed  if  he  could  open 
his  eyes  to-day,  for  here  he  would  see  a  hostelry  such  as 
Edinburgh  could  not  show  when  I  first  saw  it.  Come 
in,  my  good  man  with  the  tartan  !  Just  step  inside  the 
door!  See  that  huge  fireplace,  and  the  logs  piled  high, 
and  the  flame  that  roars  up  the  chimney  !  Did  you  ever 
see  the  "  like  o'  that "  in  any  baronial  hall  in  Scotland  ? 
Surely  you  never  saw  anything  brighter  or  better.  And 
if  you  have  adhered  to  the  custom  of  the  Highlanders  to 
go  with  bare  legs,  you  may  not  be  averse  to  standing 
before  that  fire  till  the  warmth  penetrates  your  very 
bones.  "Whenever  I  enter  that  hall,  I  cannot  resist  the 
temptation  to  turn  my  back  to  the  blaze,  for,  though  it 


BANFF  AND  THE  BOCKY  MOUNTAIN   PARK  39 

is  almost  midsummer,  yet  at  this  high  altitude,  forty- 
five  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  air  is  still 
"  frosty  but  kindly." 

Thus  this  mountain  retreat  is  made,  not  merely  for 
show,  but  for  comfort.  The  Banff  Springs  Hotel  is  a 
resting-place  for  the  traveller,  such  as  he  finds  only  in  the 
best  summer  resorts  of  Scotland  or  of  Switzerland,  with 
the  additional  attraction  of  its  famous  warm  springs.  It 
was  a  luxury  indeed  to  throw  aside  our  travel-stained 
garments,  and  plunge  into  the  soft,  delicious  sulphur 
baths,  and  emerge  in  due  time,  clothed  and  in  our  right 
minds. 

When  we  had  thus  been  warmed  and  clothed  and  fed, 
we  came  out  to  survey  the  landscape  and  see  where  we 
stood.  The  position  of  the  hotel  has  been  chosen  for  its 
outlook.  It  is  perched  on  a  shelf  of  rock,  which  projects 
over  the  valley  below,  while  it  is  at  the  same  time  in  the 
very  centre  and  focus  of  an  amphitheatre  of  mountains. 
From  my  window  I  look  down  into  a  deep  gorge,  where 
the  beautiful  river  "  foams  and  flows,"  till  it  plunges 
into  the  depths  below ;  and  as  the  mist  rises  into  the 
air,  if  the  rays  of  the  sun  dart  through  it,  a  rainbow 
arches  the  abyss. 

But  it  should  be  understood  that  this  Eocky  Moun- 
tain Park,  though  patterned  after  the  Yellowstone,  is 
by  no  means  such  a  wonderland  ;  it  has  no  geysers,  nor 
canon,  while  in  extent  it  is  but  little  more  than  one 
fourteenth  as  large,  the  exact  dimensions  being  twenty- 
six  by  ten  miles  in  the  one,  to  sixty-five  by  fifty-five  in 
the  other,  making  two  hundred  and  sixty  square  miles  as 
against  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-five ! 
But  there  is  no  need  to  go  into  comparisons,  for  though 
this  park  be  smaller  than  our  own,  it  is  large  enough  for 


40  OUR  WESTERN"  ARCHIPELAGO 

a  marvellous  combination  of  grandeur  and  beauty,  as  it 
is  filled  with  mountains,  excepting  only  the  gorge,  through 
which  the  waters  have  forced  their  way  in  the  lapse  of 
ages,  widening  to  a  valley,  round  which  the  guardian 
summits  keep  watch  in  a  mighty  circumvallation  of  per- 
haps fifty  miles.  There  is  an  advantage  in  having  so  much 
beauty  and  grandeur  in  a  small  space.  One  cannot  do  jus- 
tice to  the  Yellowstone  in  less  than  a  week,  as  it  requires 
five  days'  driving  from  point  to  point,  sleeping  each 
night  under  a  different  roof  ;  whereas  here  everything  is 
within  such  easy  distance,  that  all  can  be  taken  in  excur- 
sions from  which  the  parties  return  to  the  one  central 
place  of  rest,  and  have  a  house-warming  every  evening, 
when  all  gather  round  the  one  hearthstone,  and,  before 
the  blazing  fire,  talk  over  the  adventures  of  the  day. 

With  such  attractions  close  at  hand,  I  am  not  surprised 
that  many  come  to  this  Park,  not  for  a  hasty  glance,  but 
to  settle  down  for  a  whole  vacation,  as  Eastern  families 
spend  their  summers  in  the  White  Mountains.  Only  the 
last  season  a  friend  of  mine,  who  lives  in  New  York, 
made  the  long  journey  with  his  wife,  and  spent  two 
months  here,  living  out  of  doors,  sailing  on  the  lake,  or 
driving  or  riding  on  horseback,  and  found  in  this  moun- 
tain land  such  variety  of  scene  that  he  was  never  weary 
of  it.  Ask  him  to-day  for  the  place  on  all  the  continent 
where  one  can  find  the  most  of  pleasure  and  of  health, 
and  he  will  point  you  to  this  Kocky  Mountain  Park  as 
the  very  garden  of  paradise. 

But  one  who  comes  only  for  a  brief  visit  must  make 
the  most  of  his  time,  and  should  the  last  new-comer  look 
upon  me  as  an  old  resident,  because  I  came  two  days  before 
him,  and  ask,  "  Where  shall  I  go? "  I  answer,  "  Go  any- 
where ;  you  cannot  go  amiss.  The  chariot  is  at  the  door, 


BANFF  AND  THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  PARK     41 

and  the  mountain  roads  are  excellent ;  jump  in  and  let 
the  horses  fly  ! "  You  will  not  go  a  mile  before  you  will 
ask  the  driver  to  draw  rein  that  you  may  take  breath, 
and  let  your  eyes  sweep  round  the  horizon. 

If  I  were  to  name  one  excursion  as  better  than  another 
(though  perhaps  it  is  only  because  it  was  the  longest  and 
the  last),  it  would  be  to  the  Devil's  Lake,  in  which  I 
find  nothing  infernal  but  the  name.  It  is  a  nine-miles 
drive  from  the  hotel,  where,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains, 
we  come  upon  a  sheet  of  water  that  reminds  me  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  in  that  it  is  so  deep-set  in  the  everlasting 
hills.  The  Dead  Sea,  as  all  travellers  know,  is  the  low- 
est body  of  water  in  the  world,  being  thirteen  hundred 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  depres- 
sion of  this  lake  is,  of  course,  nothing  to  that,  but  it  is 
still  so  deep  down  in  the  earth  that  its  calm  surface  is 
like  a  sunken  mirror  in  reflecting  the  awful  forms  of 
the  heights  that  look  down  upon  it. 

But  to  see  it  in  all  its  beauty,  it  is  not  enough  to  walk 
along  its  shore ;  one  must  sail  over  it ;  and  as  it  is  fifteen 
miles  long,  it  was  fortunate  for  us  that  there  was  a  tiny 
steamboat,  with  a  man  and  a  boy  to  steer  it  and  to  feed 
its  little  engine,  which  puffed  and  wheezed  as  if  it  had 
the  asthma.  But  no  matter ;  it  was  big  enough  for  three 
of  us,  and,  seated  under  its  little  awning,  we  floated  over 
the  waters,  that  were  so  clear  that  we  could  see  to  a 
great  depth.  It  was  a  sea  of  glass,  in  which,  as  in  a 
mirror,  the  firmament  above  was  reproduced  in  a  firma- 
ment below,  with  clouds  floating  across  the  sky,  and 
great  mountains  hanging  downwards  in  that  nether- 
world. 

One  bold  headland  is  christened  Gibraltar,  and  its 
majestic  front  is  not  unlike  that  of  the  Lion  Couchant. 


42  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

But  those  who  dwell  in  this  Alpine  region  need  not  to 
borrow  greatness  from  a  name,  for  in  these  mountain 
masses  that  sweep  all  round  the  horizon  there  are  cliffs 
and  crags  enough  to  make  a  hundred  Gibraltars. 

But  that  which  fills  me  with  awe  is  the  loneliness.  It 
is  the  perfect  solitude  of  nature,  in  which  man  seems  like 
an  intruder ;  so  that  when  we  looked  up  and  saw  on  a 
tree-top  a  grand  old  eagle,  he  stirred  not  from  his  nest, 
but  looked  down  with  perfect  indifference  upon  the  little 
creatures  that  skimmed  the  waters  below,  while  he  with 
one  broad  stretch  of  his  wings  could  sweep  the  heavens 
above  us.  Thus  the  birds  of  the  air  teach  us  humility. 
We  feel  the  attraction  that  drew  poets,  like  Southey 
and  Wordsworth,  to  choose  their  homes  amid  lakes  and 
mountains.  If  one  could  but  live  in  such  a  presence  as 
this,  it  seems  as  if  he  would  be  more  than  content  to 
spend  a  good  portion  of  his  existence  far  from  the  mad- 
ding crowd,  the  noise  of  which  is  kept  away  by  the  bar- 
rier of  mountains,  until  the  peace  of  the  scene  should 
pass  into  his  soul.  As  we  rode  back  when  the  shadows 
were  falling,  the  mountains  that  we  had  passed  but  a 
few  hours  before  seemed  to  have  grown  since  morning 
and  to  reach  up  higher  towards  heaven.  I  had  to  lean 
back  in  the  carriage  to  let  the  eye  take  in  the  summits,^ 
which  seemed  to  soar  and  soar — oh,  so  high,  and  so  far 
— above  this  lower  world  of  sorrow  and  of  pain !  On 
their  "  bald,  awful  heads  "  were  deep  drifts  of  snow,  that 
caught  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun ;  and  now  and  then 
came  on  the  ear  the  dull,  but  deep  and  thunderous,  sound 
of  the  avalanche.  That  evening  we  sat  a  long  time 
on  the  terrace  in  front  of  the  hotel,  looking  round  upon 
a  scene  that  it  was  worth  travelling  more  than  two 
thousand  miles  to  see ;  watching  the  twilight  that  was 


BANFF  AND  THE   ROCKY   MOUNTAIN   PARK.  43 

fading  on  the  mountain  tops;  and  even  in  the  night 
watches,  when  I  awoke,  it  was  with  a  happy  conscious- 
ness of  being  in  some  enchanted  region,  where,  even 
while  men  slept,  nature  still  chanted  her  low,  deep 
anthem  of  praise,  as  all  night  long  the  cataract  filled  the 
mountains  with  its  muffled  roar. 


CHAPTER  V 

HOW   WE   KEPT   THE    FOURTH    OF   JULY 

IT  was  the  morning  of  Independence  Day  that  we  left 
Banff,  which,  of  course,  made  our  hearts  beat  more  quickly, 
though  it  did  not  give  us  a  feeling  of  homesickness,  and 
so  abate  our  pleasure  in  the  beautiful  country  where  we 
were.  It  only  added  to  the  exhilaration  of  the  mountain 
scenery  and  the  mountain  air  as  we  drove  down  into  the 
valley  and  over  the  iron  bridge  that  spans  the  Bow 
River,  while  behind  us  the  sound  of  the  waterfall  grew 
fainter  and  fainter.  The  sun  had  just  risen,  and  touched 
the  tops  of  the  mountains  on  which  we  looked  round  for 
the  last  time.  But  we  were  not  quite  so  lonely  as  we 
had  been,  for  Mr.  Niblock  was  an  invaluable  companion 
and  guide.  As  he  was  always  finding  something  new 
for  us,  he  now  suggested,  as  the  train  rolled  into  the 
station,  that  we  should  change  our  point  of  view  from 
the  observation  car  in  the  rear  to  the  engineer's  cab  in 
the  front,  and  thus  look  forward  instead  of  backward. 
The  change  had  its  advantages,  but  I  confess  that  I  felt 
a  little  nervous  at  being  thus  promoted  to  a  position 
which,  if  it  was  the  best  point  of  observation,  was  also 
the  point  of  greatest  danger.  In  travelling  by  rail  I 
prefer  to  take  a  back  seat,  somewhere  in  the  middle  of 
the  train.  But  my  young  companion  was  so  eager  for  the 
new  sensation  that  I  had  to  yield,  and  we  walked  forward 


HOW   WE   KEPT  THE   FOURTH   OF  JULY  45 

and  were  introduced  to  the  engineer,  Corey,  more  famil- 
iarly known  on  the  road  as  "  Charley,"  who  had  dis- 
mounted from  his  high  seat  and  was  standing  on  the 
platform.  Niblock  had  whispered  to  us  that  he  was  a 
great  favorite  of  Sir  William  Yan  Home,  who  is  a  keen 
observer  of  men,  and  took  to  him,  not  only  as  a  first-rate 
engineer,  but  as  having  an  intelligence  that  made  him  a 
very  pleasant  companion  to  talk  with,  when  the  Presi- 
dent came  over  the  road.  As  he  stood  before  us,  we  saw 
a  stout-built  man,  Avith  a  slouch  hat,  and  a  sort  of  tar- 
paulin rig  to  protect  him  from  the  mixture  of  dust  and 
oil  to  which  he  was  exposed.  Of  course  his  face  Avas 
somewhat  grimed  with  smoke,  but  that  did  not  hide  the 
two  sharp  eyes  that  looked  straight  into  the  face  of  a 
stranger  to  "  size  him  up."  If  I  did  not  produce  much 
impression  on  him,  my  companion  did,  for  no  sooner  did 
he  see  her  bright  face,  so  eager  and  expectant,  than  he 
sprang  into  his  cab,  and  reaching  out  his  strong  hand? 
lifted  her  up  as  gallantly  as  a  sailor  would  swing  a  fair 
lady  up  the  side  of  a  ship,  while  I  Avent  round  and 
climbed  up  on  the  other  side.  The  quarters  Avere  not 
roomy,  as  the  middle  space  Avas  filled  \vith  the  boiler  and 
the  furnace,  into  which  the  stoker  \vas  shovelling  the  coal, 
so  that  the  air,  AA^hich  was  already  like  the  breath  of  an 
oven,  greAV  hotter  and  hotter.  We  made  ourselves  as 
small  as  possible,  so  as  not  to  be  in  the  AAray.  This  may 
be  ascribed  to  politeness,  but  I  haA7e  observed  that  most  per- 
sons are  ready  to  give  a  Avide  berth  to  a  steam-engine  or  a 
boiler  that  may  explode  and  WOAV  them  into  smithereens ! 
As  there  Avas  some  delay  in  detaching  a  special  car  at 
the  other  end  of  the  train,  Corey  took  the  time  to  intro- 
duce us  to  his  engine,  for  every  engineer  has  his  OAVH, 
and  this,  though  it  had  no  name  except  its  number  (466), 


46  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

was  to  him  like  a  living  creature,  which  he  had  known 
ever  since  it  came  into  the  world,  "  when  it  was  a  baby," 
and  which  he  had  taken  in  hand  as  he  would  a  bright 
and  lively,  but  somewhat  awkward,  boy,  who  only 
needed  training,  and  had  trained  it  till  it  was  his  joy  and 
pride.  He  spoke  of  it  with  a  softness  and  tenderness  of 
voice  that  showed  that  he  loved  it  as  the  Arab  loves  the 
steed  that  sleeps  under  his  tent ;  and  to  hear  him  talk 
you  would  think  that  the  engine  knew  its  master,  as  the 
horse  knows  his  rider,  and  responded  to  his  lightest  touch 
as  it  would  not  to  the  touch  of  a  stranger. 

His  one  rule  in  training  was  that  if  you  wanted  " her" 
(for  I  think  he  always  gave  his  favorite  the  feminine  sex) 
to  do  her  best — if  you  would  get  the  most  out  of  her, 
"  you  must  treat  her  well ; "  for  an  engine  that  has  done 
service  for  a  good  many  years  gets  to  be  like  an  old  man, 
a  little  rusty  and  stiff  in  the  joints ;  and  you  must  look 
after  her,  and  see  if  she  has  not  a  lame  foot,  or  is  weak  in 
the  knees.  In  that  case  she  should  be  rubbed  down  as 
you  would  rub  a  blooded  horse  that  you  wished  to  keep 
in  prime  condition,  and  be  well  oiled  in  every  spot  where 
she  is  a  little  sore.  By  this  constant  inspection  and  lov- 
ing care  for  the  dear  old  creature,  she  could  be  "limbered 
up "  and  kept  in  repair,  so  as  to  do  still  more  years  of 
service  in  going  up  and  down  these  mountains. 

When  he  had  done  all  this,  and  polished  her  off  so  that 
she  was  as  fresh  as  a  daisy,  he  stood  off  and  looked  at 
her  with  a  smile  of  satisfaction  that  seemed  to  say,  "  Old 
girl,  no  matter  how  many  daughters  there  may  be,  thou 
excellest  them  all !  " 

While  talking  with  such  animation  Core}7  put  his  head 
out  of  the  window  every  minute  to  see  to  the  side-track- 
ing of  the  special  car,  all  the  while  keeping  his  hand 


HOW   WE   KEPT  THE   FOURTH   OF  JULY  47 

on  the  throttle,  so  that  he  could  with  the  slightest  press- 
ure of  his  finger  move  forward  or  backward.  When 
this  little  side  matter  was  adjusted  he  turned  to  his  steed 
that  had  been  champing  at  the  bit,  and  gave  a  little 
stronger  pressure,  and  the  long  train  began  to  move.  At 
first  very  gently,  for  his  quick  eye  saw  that  I  was  not 
quite  so  much  at  home  in  his  cab  as  I  might  be  in  the 
pulpit;  and  out  of  condescension  to  my  infirmity  he 
moved  off  so  slowly  that  all  my  nervousness  was  lulled 
to  rest,  and  I  straightened  up  with  a  jaunty  assurance 
that  showed  how  indifferent  I  was  to  this  sailing  through 
the  air,  which  was  as  gentle  and  quiet  as  if  we  were  in 
a  boat  gliding  through  the  water.  While  I  was  thus 
patting  myself  on  the  back  as  a  man  whose  nerves 
could  not  be  shaken,  Corey  turned  round  to  another 
face  that  was  right  behind  him,  and  seeing  it  glowing 
with  eagerness,  he  just  whispered  to  the  "old  girl,"  and 
opened  the  throttle  and  "  let  her  go ! " 

Goodness  !  how  the  old  lady  danced !  It  was  a  Vir- 
ginia reel!  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it,  she 
sprang  from  her  slow  pace  of  ten  miles  an  hour  to  fifteen, 
twenty,  twenty-five,  thirty,  thirty-five,  forty,  and  forty- 
five  !  This,  he  told  me  afterwards,  he  did  "  just  to  please 
the  young  lady  ! "  Ah  yes,  this  was  very  well  for  the 
young  lady ;  but  how  about  the  old  gentleman  ?  I 
thought  my  hour  had  come  !  For  a  few  minutes  I  felt 
as  if  the  Old  Nick  himself  had  got  me  (as  the  darkeys 
would  say,  "shuah");  yes,  had  got  me  by  the  nape  of 
the  neck,  and  was  rushing  me  forward  to  some  place 
where  I  didn't  want  to  go !  But  after  keeping  this  light- 
ning gait  for  ten  or  a  dozen  miles,  he  slowed  up  a  little, 
by  which  time  I  had  become  accustomed  to  the  speed, 
so  that  the  nervousness  was  all  gone,  and  the  sense  of 


48  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

danger  was  changed  to  one  of  pleasurable  excitement; 
and  at  the  wind-up,  when  we  had  made  the  run  of  thirty- 
six  miles  to  Laggan,  I  was  not  only  at  ease  in  the  engi- 
neer's cab,  but  was  ready,  like  Oliver  Twist,  to  ask  for 
more !  As  we  stepped  to  the  platform,  I  thanked  our 
new  friend  (for  as  such  I  shall  always  think  of  him) 
for  a  novel  experience  that  was  one  of  the  most  pleasant 
in  all  our  journey  to  the  Pacific. 

When  we  waved  our  hand  to  the  engineer,  as  he  bore 
away  to  the  west,  the  scene  changed  from  the  flying  car 
to  the  stillness  of  the  forest ;  for  Laggan,  though  once 
a  busy  spot  when  the  road  was  in  construction,  is  now 
only  a  gateway  to  something  better  than  itself.  The 
only  inhabitants  are  a  few  Indians  (who  furnish  ponies 
to  tourists),  with  their  squaws  and  pappooses.  Knowing 
that  they  are  a  shiftless  race,  idle  and  lazy,  and  often 
thievish,  I  took  for  granted  that  they  must  be  very  poor 
neighbors.  But  the  station-master  told  me  that  they 
were  far  better  than  the  average  white  men  whom  I  should 
find  on  the  border,  for  that,  poor  as  they  were,  not 
a  man  would  touch  a  thing  that  was  not  his.  Whence 
this  honesty  that  hardly  belongs  to  any  race  so  low  in 
condition?  It  is  all  explained  by  the  fact  that  years 
ago  a  Scotch  missionary,  John  McDougal  by  name,  came 
here,  and  (instead  of  swinging  round  the  circle  once  in 
three  months,  like  a  circuit-rider,  to  blow  a  blast  under 
the  trees,  and  then  mount  his  horse  and  disappear  in  the 
woods)  he  came  to  live  among  them,  to  share  their  pri- 
vations, to  be  with  them  in  summer's  heat  and  winter's 
cold,  and  thus  by  his  patient  teaching,  and,  above  all,  by 
his  own  example,  he  won  them  to  habits  of  honest  indus- 
try, and  to  pure,  Christian  lives. 

While  listening  to  this,  the  Indians  were  saddling  the 


49 

ponies,  and  soon  we  were  all  mounted  and  following  one 
another  in  Indian  file  up  the  mountain.  As  we  moved 
off  in  silence,  we  were  in  some  excitement  in  hope  of  an 
adventure.  The  woods  are  said  to  be  full  of  bears,  and 
if  one  should  but  cross  our  path,  what  a  story  to  tell 
our  friends  at  home !  Only  I  fear,  if  Bruin  had  thrust 
his  black  nose  out  from  under  the  trees,  he  might  have 
set  our  hearts  beating  with  a  sensation  that  was  not 
unmixed  enjoyment ! 

We  had  not  gone  far  before  the  ponies  gave  a  start, 
and  drew  back  as  if  they  snuffed  danger  in  the  air. 
Alas,  it  was  only  a  porcupine  !  But  as  it  was  climbing 
a  tree,  it  looked  as  large  as  a  bear's  cub,  and  with  its 
quills  that  in  an  instant  might  stand  out  like  a  hundred 
spears,  it  was  not  a  creature  to  be  handled  lightly.  The 
sudden  apparition  gave  us  all  a  start,  but  Mabel's  one 
sorrow  was  at  the  loss  of  the  opportunity  to  show  her 
skill  as  a  shot.  In  our  peaceful  Berkshire  home  she  had 
sometimes  toyed  with  a  pistol,  or  even  with  a  small  gun, 
and  now  deplored  her  fate  that  she  had  not  "  her  rifle  " 
to  bring  down  this  mighty  game,  for  want  of  which  she 
had  to  leave  it  to  the  Indian  who  followed  her,  who,  with- 
out waiting  for  a  rifle,  or  even  a  bow  and  arrow,  picked 
up  a  stone  from  the  road,  and  despatched  it  at  a  blow. 
Much  as  I  regretted  her  disappointment,  I  thought  it 
would  not  be  proof  of  an  unerring  aim  to  shoot  a  poor 
beast  that  was  so  near  that  she  could  touch  it  with  the 
muzzle  of  her  gun,  nor  that  even  a  bristling  porcupine, 
hung  up  in  the  ancestral  halls  at  home,  would  quite  estab- 
lish her  fame  as  a  second  Diana,  a  huntress  of  the  forest ! 

But  no  hunter's  fancy  could  divert  us,  but  for  a  moment, 
from  the  exquisite  beauty  of  that  ride  in   the  woods, 
through   "  the  murmuring   pines    and   the    hemlocks " 
4 


50  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

and  along  the  border  of  a  stream  that  rushed  over 
its  rocky  bed.  Thus,  winding  slowly  upward  for  three 
miles,  we  had  risen  a  thousand  feet,  and  came  out  on 
a  terrace,  on  which  stood  a  Swiss  chalet,  overlooking  a 
scene  that  was  thoroughly  Swiss  in  its  combination  of 
lake  and  mountain,  though  the  lake  takes  the  name  of  an 
English  princess,  who  is  an  enthusiastic  lover  of  the  wild 
and  beautiful  in  nature,  and  who  had  opportunity,  during 
the  years  that  her  husband,  the  Marquis  of  Lome,  was 
Governor-General  of  Canada,  to  study  the  scenery  of 
America ;  and  surely  in  all  that  she  saw  from  Montreal 
to  the  Pacific,  she  could  have  found  nothing  more  worthy 
to  bear  her  name  than  the  sheet  of  water  that  now  opens 
before  us,  which  has  long  been  a  favorite  subject  for  artists. 
"  Some  years  since,"  said  Mr.  Niblock,  "  I  came  here  with 
Mr.  Albert  Bierstadt,  who,  as  he  came  to  this  spot,  threw 
up  his  hands  in  ecstasy,  exclaiming  with  an  enthusiasm 
that  only  an  artist  could  feel :  'Never  have  I  seen  anything 
to  approach  this  before,'  and,  lest  the  vision  should 
escape  him,  he  seized  his  pencil  and  began  a  sketch  before 
the  picture  should  vanish  out  of  his  sight."  While  the 
Indians  unsaddled  the  ponies  and  let  them  rest  under  the 
trees,  we  sat  on  the  veranda,  taking  in  the  features  of 
the  scene,  which  fortunately  can  be  grouped  in  one  view, 
since  Lake  Louise  is  not,  like  the  Devil's  Lake  at  the 
Park,  long  and  winding,  so  that  while  viewing  one  end 
the  other  is  out  of  sight,  but  is  so  shut  in  that  the  eye 
can  take  in  the  whole  from  a  single  point  of  observa- 
tion. The  picture  is  framed  for  us,  as  if  by  the  hand  of 
an  artist,  somewhat  in  the  shape  of  a  triangle,  of  which 
the  chalet  is  the  apex,  while  the  two  sides  that  broaden 
from  it  are  two  mountains,  the  one  on  the  right  some- 
what sloping  and  covered  with  a  dense  forest,  and  the 


HOW   WE   KEPT  THE   FOURTH  OF  JULY  51 

other  a  bold  rock  over  two  thousand  feet  high,  rising 
perpendicularly,  like  the  dome  of  El  Capitan  in  the  Yo- 
semite  Valley  ;  while  the  third  end  of  the  triangle,  which 
faces  us  at  the  farther  end  of  the  lake,  is  one  enormous 
glacier  that  literally  covers  the  mountain  with  its  slopes 
and  pinnacles  of  ice  and  snow. 

As  we  shall  return  to  this  central  spot  and  take  another 
view  from  the  lake  itself,  as  we  sail  over  it,  we  leave  it 
for  two  or  three  hours  to  make  a  still  higher  ascent. 
Once  more  the  ponies  are  saddled,  and,  passing  round  the 
lake  to  the  right,  we  climb  up  another  mountain  steeper 
than  the  last,  till  we  look  down  into  the  clear  waters  of 
what  is  fitly  called  Mirror  Lake,  as  it  almost  startles  us 
by  the  vividness  with  which  it  reflects  the  rocks  and 
hills.  So  complete  is  the  illusion  that  we  had  to  with- 
draw our  eyes  and  look  round  us,  to  be  sure  that  we  had 
not  been  turned  upside  down,  and  left  with  our  heads 
hanging  downward  to  the  earth  ! 

At  this  height — indeed,  with  its  very  base  above  the 
level  of  Mirror  Lake — is  a  mass  of  rock  called,  from  its 
shape,  the  Bee  Hive,  around  which  we  crept  as  carefully 
as  if  we  were  every  moment  expecting  a  stinging  saluta- 
tion, and  when  we  reached  a  point  where  even  our  sure- 
footed ponies,  that  can  almost  cling,  like  chamois,  to  the 
side  of  a  rock,  could  go  no  further,  we  had  to  dismount 
and  climb,  not  only  with  our  feet,  but  our  hands,  seizing 
every  projecting  bush,  or  limb  of  a  tree,  by  which  we 
could  pull  ourselves  upward,  till  at  last  we  reached  the 
level  of  a  third  lake  that  is  literally  in  the  clouds.  This 
is  Lake  Agnes,  which  is  three  thousand  feet  above  the 
level,  not  of  the  sea,  but  of  Laggan,  from  which  we  set 
out  in  the  morning. 

And  now,  having  got  up,  it  is  almost  as  difficult  to  get 


52  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

down.  For  part  of  the  way  we  trust  only  to  our  own 
feet,  picking  our  way  very  cautiously,  with  hands  out- 
stretched to  seize  any  means  of  support,  and  when  we 
take  to  our  ponies,  and  they  put  out  their  fore-legs,  we 
expect  every  moment  to  be  pitched  over  their  heads. 
However,  as  we  submit  to  the  necessities  of  the  occasion, 
and  are  willing,  for  once,  to  "go  slow,"  the  Lord  pre- 
serves us,  and  by  special  mercy  we  find  ourselves  again 
at  the  chalet,  in  front  of  which  a  couple  of  Indians,  whom 
we  left  behind,  are  telling  stories  of  their  bear  hunts, 
in  which,  though  they  speak  in  their  native  tongue,  their 
features  and  tones  of  voice  show  that  they  feel  all  the 
excitement  of  the  chase. 

And  now,  having  had  so  much  of  poetry  and  also  of 
fatigue,  an  hour  of  rest  is  not  unwelcome,  especially  with 
the  substantial  lunch,  for  the  Swiss  chalet  is  not  merely 
a  picturesque  object  in  the  landscape,  but  an  excellent 
house  of  refreshment  for  the  weary  traveller,  that  will 
give  him  new  life  to  enjoy  the  sail  on  the  lake.  The 
landlord  of  the  chalet  is  a  skilful  oarsman,  and  the  boat 
glides  softly  over  the  waters.  Now  it  turns  to  the  right, 
and  skims  along  in  the  shadow  of  the  forest.  If  any  visi- 
tor is  not  content  with  scenery,  and  must  have  his  gun, 
let  him  "take  to  the  woods,"  and  he  may  stir  up  a  bear 
before  the  day  is  ended.  As  we  have  no  such  ambition, 
we  prefer  to  keep  on  to  the  farther  end  of  the  lake,  where 
we  are  to  have  our  first  near  view  of  a  glacier.  From  the 
chalet  it  presents  only  the  appearance  of  a  mountain  cov- 
ered with  snow.  But  as  we  draw  nearer,  its  character 
defines  itself  more  clearly,  the  beach  being  strewn  with 
stones  and  fragments  of  rock  swept  down  in  avalanches, 
from  which  the  snow  has  melted,  leaving  this  wreck  and 
ruin  along  the  shore.  Behind  this  rises  a  mighty  wall  of 


HOW  WE  KEPT  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY       53 

ice  in  strata  like  those  of  a  rock-ribbed  mountain,  piled 
one  above  another,  till  there  must  be  literally  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  tons,  pressing  forward  and  downward. 
It  is  well  that  the  lake  is  here  to  receive  it,  for  if  men 
had  ever  built  their  habitations  on  the  shore,  as  Italian 
peasants  have  built  on  the  sides  of  Vesuvius,  they  would 
share  the  same  fate. 

But  this  great  wall  of  ice,  that  hangs  midway  on  the 
mountain's  side,  does  not  reach  to  its  top.  Behind  it 
and  above  it  a  vast  snow  field  rises  against  the  sky — the 
Great  White  Throne  of  the  Eternal  Majesty. 

When  we  are  ushered  into  one  of  these  great  scenes 
of  nature,  the  first  impression  of  beauty,  or  even  of 
sublimity,  soon  gives  way  to  something  deeper,  which 
touches  our  poor  human  lives.  In  this  close  contact  of 
nature  and  man,  the  greatness  of  the  one  is  placed  in 
sharp  contrast  with  the  littleness  of  the  other.  As  we 
turn  away  from  this  dazzling  brightness,  we  sink  into 
an  insignificance  that  becomes  almost  annihilation  as 
we  sweep  round  the  lake  to  the  wall  of  rock  on  the 
other  side.  As  our  little  skiff  glides  into  the  shadow, 
the  boatman  drops  his  oar,  and  we  float  in  silence,  not 
saying  a  word,  but  looking  up  speechless  to  the  tremen- 
dous cliff  that  hangs  over  us  as  if  to  crush  us.  And 
indeed  it  would  crush  all  hope  within  me,  if  I  had  no 
religious  faith,  by  its  awful  weight  and  its  infinite  dura- 
tion. Other  mountains  than  Sinai  speak  to  us — what 
has  this  to  tell  ?  It  tells  us  that  we  are  of  yesterday 
and  know  nothing,  while  it  may  date  its  beginning  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world.  What  then  is  human  exist- 
ence in  the  presence  of  this  Ancient  of  Days,  that  has 
looked  down  on  a  thousand  generations,  and  will  look 
down  upon  a  thousand  more  ? 


54  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

And  yet  we  find  another  Presence  here ;  for  if  we 
come  out  to-night  when  the  stars  are  shining,  we  shall 
see  them  reflected  in  the  waters,  so  that  whether  we  look 
upward  or  downward,  we  shall  find  a  firmament  above 
and  a  firmament  below,  and  be  looking  into  the  very 
face  of  God ! 

Then  tell  me  if  you  will  that  life  is  but  a  bubble  on 
the  ocean : 

"A  moment  white,  then  gone  forever." 

But  even  if  a  bubble  bursts,  the  drop  of  water  which 
for  a  moment  it  held  in  air  is  not  lost,  but  sinks  into  its 
native  element,  to  roll  in  the  waves  till  there  is  no  more 
sea.  And  is  not  our  little  life  a  part  of  the  universal 
life,  of  the  life  of  God,  to  whose  all-embracing  bosom 
it  returns  and  there  liveth  and  abideth  forever  ?  Such 
was  the  comforting  reflection  that  I  brought  out  of  these 
great  scenes  of  nature,  and  took  to  my  poor  heart,  as  I 
rode  silently  and  thoughtfully  down  the  mountain  side. 


CHAPTEK  VI 

RIDING   ON   THE   COW-CATCHER 

WHEN  a  man  of  uncertain  age  starts  off  on  a  trip  across 
the  continent,  it  would  be  rather  dreary  for  him  to  go 
alone ;  and  he  is  fortunate  if  he  has  in  his  family  one  (of 
the  proper  age  and  sex)  whose  young  eyes  may  brighten 
his  lonely  hours.  Especially  if  he  is  a  little  dull  himself, 
or  is  subject  to  drooping  spirits,  the  sight  of  another  in 
whom  life  is  fresh  and  strong  may  react  upon  the  heavi- 
est heart.  Sometimes  it  reawakens  life  in  one  who  is  a 
trifle  "  past  age."  This  process  of  rejuvenation  cometh 
not  from  within,  but  from  without.  It  is  not  enough  for 
a  man  to  look  into  a  glass  and  see  himself,  but  other  eyes 
must  look  into  his  eyes,  and  another  heart  set  his  heart 
beating  faster  with  a  new  pulsation  of  life  and  of  happi- 
ness. 

But  there  is  nothing  in  life  that  has  not  its  reverse 
side ;  even  in  joy  there  is  a  shadow  of  pain  ;  and  youth, 
from  its  very  excess  of  life,  sometimes  crowds  upon  the 
lingering  steps  of  age.  The  sweetest  disposition  may 
have  behind  it  a  strong  personality ;  and  a  fairy  young 
creature  may  have  a  will  of  her  own.  This  may  explain 
a  discovery  which  I  made  on  this  journey  (of  course,  no 
uncle  ever  discovered  it  before) — that  my  delightful  trav- 
elling companion  had  some  tastes  that  were,  to  say  the 
least,  peculiar.  Hardly  had  we  gone  beyond  the  bounds 


56  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

of  civilization,  before  she  confided  to  her  uncle  that  her 
one  ambition  in  life  was  to  ride  on  a  cow-catcher ! !  to 
which  he  answered  sharply,  "  Nonsense !  Ridiculous ! 
Absurd ! "  telling  her  that  it  would  be  highly  improper 
and  even  dangerous,  and  what  was  worse,  that  it  was 
unwomanly — it  might  do  for  a  cow-boy,  but  not  for  a 
well-bred  young  woman — and  tried  to  divert  her  mind  by 
asking  her  about  the  new  books  which  she  had  read,  and 
telling  her  to  look  out  of  the  window  at  the  grand  moun- 
tain scenery !  She  listened  silently,  casting  down  her 
eyes  like  a  nun,  and  yet  for  an  instant  he  thought  there 
was  a  faint  twinkle  in  them,  that  indicated  that  she 
would  bide  her  time. 

The  time  did  not  come  till  we  had  crossed  the  plains, 
and  entered  the  mountains.  But  when  the  Fourth  of  July 
had  fully  come,  Americans,  even  though  on  British  terri- 
tory, feel  that  they  must  do  something  for  the  honor  of 
their  country — perform  some  exploit  which,  if  not  revo- 
lutionary, is  at  least  unexpected.  We  had  begun  the  day 
by  riding  in  the  cab  with  the  engineer ;  we  were  to  end 
it  by  being  projected  out  of  the  cab  upon  the  cow-catcher ! 

When  we  came  down  from  Lake  Louise,  and  dis- 
mounted from  our  Indian  ponies  at  Laggan,  which  we 
had  left  in  the  morning,  we  found  ourselves  once  more 
on  the  line  of  the  railroad,  but  no  train  stood  there  to 
receive  us.  There  is  but  one  through  train  a  day — 
that  which  had  brought  us  in  the  morning — and  had  we 
been  "  common  folks,"  we  should  have  been  stranded  here 
to  wait  till  the  morrow.  But  the  Superintendent  was  all- 
powerful,  and  anticipating  the  difficulty,  in  the  absence 
of  anything  better,  had  ordered,  for  the  stress  of  the  occa- 
sion, a  hand-car  such  as  is  used  by  the  workmen  on  the 
road.  There  it  stood,  with  four  lusty  fellows  to  serve  in 


RIDING  ON  THE   COW-CATCHER  57 

place  of  an  engine.  Of  course,  it  was  not  imposing  to 
look  upon.  It  was  not  as  gorgeous  as  a  gilded  howdah, 
in  which  I  have  sometimes  sat  on  the  back  of  an  ele- 
phant, which  moved  forward  with  a  majestic  tread  that 
warned  everybody  to  get  out  of  the  way. 

But  handsome  is  that  handsome  does,  and  this  plain 
truck  sufficed  for  the  occasion.  Here  we  took  our  seats 
like 

"Three  black  crows  all  in  a  row," 

Mr.  Niblock  and  I  nearest  the  wheels  that  we  might 
have  the  lady  member  of  our  party  between  us  for  her 
protection,  though  she  laughed  at  the  idea  of  danger,  or 
rather,  to  put  it  more  strictly  according  to  the  fact, 
thought  "  a  spice  of  danger  would  give  zest  to  the  ride," 
and  almost  screamed  with  delight  when  the  sturdy 
wheelmen  put  their  strong  arms  to  the  task  and  bowled 
us  over  the  road. 

But  I  did  not  feel  so  sure  of  my  safety.  The  old  line 
says, 

"  They  that  be  low  need  fear  no  fall." 

But  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that,  for  our  danger  was  in  the 
very  fact  that  we  were  low,  since  our  feet  were  lower 
still,  and  as  they  swung  in  the  air,  I  was  in  constant  fear 
that  they  would  strike  some  piece  of  rock  that  had  fallen 
on  the  track,  and  send  us  all  flying  from  our  seats,  with 
the  car  rolling  over  our  heads ;  and  it  was  with  entire 
satisfaction  that,  after  a  run  of  eight  miles,  we  came  to 
the  end  of  that  part  of  our  journey. 

Stepping  from  the  track  to  the  roadside,  we  found  that 
in  that  eight  miles  we  had  completed  the  last  stage  in  our 
ascent  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  now  stood  on  the 
very  point  of  the  Continental  Divide.  Leaping  up  the 


58  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

grassy  bank,  I  found  rippling  over  it  a  swift-running 
stream,  not  too  large  for  me  to  bestride  like  a  Colossus, 
in  which  Herculean  act  I  outdid  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes, 
as  I  stood  with  one  foot  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  and 
the  other  in  British  Columbia,  and  literally  straddled 
the  waters  of  a  continent,  since  at  my  very  feet  the  stream 
divides  into  two,  one  of  which  flows  north  and  east,  to 
wander  here  and  there  down  the  mountains  and  through 
the  valleys  and  over  the  plains,  till  it  rests  in  Hudson 
Bay ;  while  the  other  turns  to  the  west,  to  sleep  at  last 
in  the  calm  Pacific. 

But  what  goes  up  must  come  down.  Having  climbed 
to  the  crest  of  the  mountains,  to  the  dividing  ridge,  we 
must  make  an  equal  descent  on  the  other  side,  and  to  get 
down  safely  we  must  go  slowly  and  pick  our  way  with 
judicious  care.  It  would  hardly  do  to  trust  our  lives 
to  a  hand-car,  which  might  soon  acquire  a  velocity  that 
could  not  be  held  back  by  any  hand-brake;  and  the 
Superintendent,  who  was  equal  to  all  emergencies,  had 
ordered  up  an  engine  to  take  us  on  board.  Now  came 
the  opportunity  for  which  my  young  companion  had 
been  waiting  to  enforce  her  request  to  take  the  ad- 
vanced position  of  which  she  was  so  ambitious.  It 
looked  as  if  there  was  a  conspiracy  against  me,  for  I  now 
remembered  that  the  week  before,  in  Montreal,  when  Sir 
William  was  dictating  to  his  secretary  the  points  of  in- 
terest for  us  to  see,  he  let  drop  the  remark,  "  Perhaps 
Miss  Dwight  would  like  to  ride  on  the  cow-catcher  going 
down  the  Kicking  Horse  Canon ! "  Ah  !  there  it  was, 
and  whether  he  had  passed  the  word  along  the  line  to 
Mr.  Niblock,  I  did  not  know ;  but  here  was  the  fact 
right  before  us  that  an  engine  was  standing  on  the  track, 
with  steam  up,  but  no  passenger  car  !  How  were  we  to 


KICKING    HORSE    CANON. 


RIDING  ON   THE   COW-CATCHER  59 

ride  ?  There  were  but  two  ways — in  the  cab  with  the 
engineer,  as  in  the  morning,  or  on  the  cow-catcher  in 
front!  This  was  the  alternative  for  which  my  little 
maiden  had  waited.  Her  time  had  come  !  How  could 
I  resist  any  longer  when  her  plea  was  enforced  by  the 
necessity  of  the  case  ?  So  at  last  the  young  lady  carried 
her  point  over  the  old  gentleman.  Mr.  Niblock  wished 
to  oblige  us  both,  yet  in  his  heart  I  think  he  leaned  to 
the  other  side,  and  I  don't  blame  him.  And  so  the  "  old 
man"  came  down,  as  he  was  in  duty  bound  (for  what 
are  old  men  for  if  it  is  not  to  come  down  on  such  occa- 
sions as  this?),  and  the  men  went  to  work  with  a  will. 
Everything  had  been  prepared  beforehand.  In  front  of 
the  boiler  were  some  projecting  braces,  that  seemed  to 
have  been  put  there  to  support  a  piece  of  timber.  Upon 
these  was  now  lifted  a  heavy  railroad  tie,  and  when  it 
had  been  made  fast  and  strong,  will  you  believe  it,  "  His 
Reverence  "  was  the  first  to  exalt  himself  to  this  position 
of  dignity,  taking  his  seat  in  front  of  the  boiler,  with  his 
arm  round  his  young  protegee,  while  the  Superintendent 
and  the  conductor  seated  themselves  so  as  to  keep  the 
balance  even.  Thus  projected  to  the  fore  end,  I  was  no 
longer  merely  a  king  on  the  back  of  an  elephant,  but  a 
mahout  sitting  on  his  very  head,  thus  to  be  swung  down 
the  valley,  unless  perchance  (as  elephants,  like  men, 
sometimes  go  crazy)  he  should  get  impatient  of  his  bur- 
den, and,  with  one  toss  of  his  head,  throw  us  over  into 
the  gorge  below. 

The  excitement  of  the  situation  was  increased  by 
another  circumstance — that  we  were  to  feel  our  way 
down  the  steepest  grade  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  two 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet  to  the  mile !  Of  course,  the 
engine  was  not  needed  to  draw  us  forward,  but  only  to 


60  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

hold  us  back,  for  its  mere  weight  on  such  an  incline  would 
give  it  a  momentum  that  would  increase  every  moment. 
And,  as  if  this  \vere  not  enough,  the  engineer  took  the 
opportunity  to  "hitch  on"  a  long  train  of  freight  cars, 
which  would  increase  the  momentum  to  something  fright- 
ful if  anything  should  give  way.  Sometimes  a  train  breaks 
loose  and  rushes  down  a  mountain  with  fearful  speed. 
That  such  a  thing  was  not  impossible  here  was  shown  by 
the  provision  of  numerous  sidings,  with  a  man  at  the 
switch,  so  that,  if  the  train  should  get  unmanageable,  a 
quick  turn  would  whirl  the  head  of  the  monster  to  one 
side,  and  off  on  a  level  track,  where  he  could  have  time  to 
think  about  it,  before  he  renewed  the  perilous  attempt. 
If  all  these  precautions  were  to  fail,  and  the  train  should 
rush  madly  down  the  mountain,  of  course  we  who  were 
on  the  bow  of  the  ship  would  be  the  first  to  go  in 
the  general  smash,  and  would  not  be  left  to  tell  the 
tale! 

Was  it  not  then  a  piece  of  foolhardiness  to  expose 
ourselves  to  such  danger?  No!  Because  in  fact  the 
danger  has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum  by  the  wonder- 
ful mechanism  provided  to  control  such  a  tremendous 
force — something  to  overcome  the  power  of  gravitation 
and  hold  this  enormous  weight,  as  it  were,  in  the  air. 
And  here  I  take  the  opportunity,  while  crossing  the  Con- 
tinental Divide,  to  pay  my  tribute  to  a  man  whom  I 
am  proud  to  call  my  friend,  George  Westinghouse,  who 
by  his  air-brake  has  put  a  curb-bit  in  the  mouth  of  the 
wildest  steam-horse  that  ever  dashed  down  a  mountain 
or  raced  across  a  continent.  But  for  him  we  should  have 
to  creep  where  now  we  fly.  We  should  have  to  crawl  at 
a  snail's  pace  across  the  plains,  and  be  let  down  from  any 
height  with  extreme  caution  to  secure  our  safety.  With 


RIDING   ON  THE   COW-CATCHER  61 

such  liability  to  runaways,  one  could  never  feel  safe  in  a 
railway  train.  To  the  great  Wellington,  the  conqueror 
of  Waterloo,  the  danger  seemed  greater  than  on  a  battle- 
field, so  that  for  years  after  railways  were  introduced  into 
England  the  old  Field  Marshal  would  not  risk  his  life 
upon  them.  Nor  was  the  Queen  permitted  to  expose  her 
royal  person  to  a  danger  that  seemed  all  the  greater  in 
that  it  was  unknown.  But  our  countryman  has  laid  his 
hand  on  the  power  that  threatened  destruction,  and  its 
terror  is  gone.  By  a  device  which  seems  very  simple 
now  that  he  has  discovered  it  and  applied  it,  he  has  grap- 
pled and  chained  the  steam-engine,  and  made  it  abso- 
lutely obedient  to  the  will  of  man.  With  his  air-brake 
he  can  hold  half  a  mile  of  cars,  going  down  the  steepest 
pass  in  the  world,  or  stop  any  "  lightning  train "  when 
rushing  forward  with  frightful  velocity.  For  ten  long 
miles  we  were  descending  this  canon,  but  not  for  an 
instant  did  this  wild  courser  of  the  mountains  break 
from  the  hand  of  its  master,  who,  by  a  simple  pressure 
on  the  brake,  could  hold  the  mad  creature  as  in  a  vice. 
With  such  airy  security  did  we  descend,  that,  had  we  been 
favored  by  the  presence  of  the  Jubilee  Singers,  I  should 
have  asked  them  to  sing  one  of  their  wild  melodies : 

"  Swing  low,  sweet  chariot, 
We  are  coming  along  home  !  " 

And  home  it  was  when  we  were  all  set  down  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  in  a  quiet  valley,  without  a  single 
jar,  or  a  moment  of  fear  or  anxiety. 

Thus  we  celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July  by  a  grand 
performance  in  four  acts:  riding  in  the  cab  with  the 
engineer ;  riding  on  Indian  ponies  up  a  mountain  to  what 
are  fitly  called  the  lakes  in  the  clouds,  and  down  again ; 


62  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

riding  on  a  hand-car;  and  riding  on  a  cow-catcher  down 
the  steepest  grade  in  the  Kocky  Mountains ! 

But  could  we  not  have  been  let  down  from  that  height 
with  just  as  much  ease  and  more  comfort  if  we  had  been 
sitting  inside  a  Pullman  car?  What  was  gained  by  put- 
ting ourselves  on  the  outside?  We  sometimes  take  a 
world  of  pains  to  do  what  is  not  worth  the  trouble, 
just  for  the  satisfaction  of  having  done  it.  Was  not  this 
all  that  we  had  to  show  for  this  foolish  exploit  ?  The 
reader  shall  judge. 

We  were  at  the  top  of  the  Continental  Divide,  and  the 
gates  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  were  opening  before  us. 
The  Cafion  of  the  Kicking  Horse  River  is  one  of  the 
wildest  and  grandest  in  all  that  mighty  range.  If  the 
river  had  not  taken  its  name  from  some  incident  that 
happened  to  one  of  the  early  explorers,  it  would  still 
have  been  not  inappropriate,  since  it  is  always  flecked 
Avith  foam,  and  rushes  on  in  such  wild  fury  that  it  seems 
to  be  kicking  up  its  heels  into  the  air.  It  is  at  once  a 
Destroyer  and  a  Creator.  In  the  lapse  of  ages  it  has 
fought  its  way  through  the  mountains,  and  in  its  deep 
gorge  cleared  a  passage  for  the  steps  of  man.  On  either 
side  the  scarred  and  broken  cliffs  are  the  monuments  of 
its  tremendous  power.  Between  these  cliffs,  down  this 
gorge,  and  on  the  bank  of  this  rushing,  roaring  river, 
we  were  now  to  descend. 

Of  course,  the  first  necessity  was  to  have  the  view  unob- 
structed. There  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between 
craning  our  necks  out  of  a  window,  or  even  standing  on 
a  platform,  turning  this  side  and  that  to  catch  glimpses 
of  all  this  grandeur,  and  being  in  the  very  focus  of  the 
whole,  where  we  can  take  it  all  in  -with  one  sweep  of 
the  eye.  Perched  on  our  "  coign  of  vantage,"  there  is 


RIDING   ON   THE   COW-CATCHER  63 

nothing  between  us  and  the  mountains,  which  crowd 
into  our  very  path,  so  that  we  can  almost  touch  them 
with  our  hands.  In  going  down  such  a  pass  the  sensa- 
tion is  very  different  from  that  in  going  up,  when  we 
are  all  the  time  rising  into  the  light  of  the  open  sky, 
while  here  we  are  sinking,  sinking,  till  we  can  almost  say 
with  Jonah,  "  I  went  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  moun- 
tains; the  earth  with  her  bars  was  about  me  forever." 
As  we  descend  lower  and  lower,  the  mountains  rise 
higher  and  higher,  and  their  snowy  peaks  shine  brighter 
and  brighter  in  the  face  of  the  sun.  Is  not  this  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  upon  the  mountains  ? 

And  now  what  do  I  think  of  riding  on  a  cow-catcher? 
I  have  to  confess  that  what  I  looked  upon  as  a  childish 
freak  has  proved  a  revelation ;  that  the  child  was  wiser 
than  the  man  ;  and  that  to  youthful  enthusiasm  I  owe 
one  of  the  most  thrilling  experiences  of  my  life. 

At  the  end  of  the  canon  the  picture  is  made  complete, 
and,  as  it  were,  "  framed  in "  by  two  giant  mountains. 
Mount  Stephen  is  not  the  highest  peak  I  have  seen  in 
the  world,  but  it  is  one  of  the  grandest  in  its  majestic 
form,  as  its  wall  of  rock  rises  like  a  fortress,  throwing  out 
its  buttresses  on  every  side,  till  it  is  a  very  Gibraltar  in 
the  clouds,  with  its  banners  floating  in  the  sky  ;  while 
in  the  centre  of  it,  and  rising  still  higher  above  it,  is  a 
huge  mass,  the  shape  of  which  suggests  to  every  beholder 
a  cathedral  of  the  Middle  Ages ;  and  he  must  be  dull 
and  insensible  who  does  not  feel  stirring  within  him  some 
sentiment  akin  to  worship  as  he  looks  up  to  its  pinnacles 
and  towers. 

But  when  the  day  was  over,  and  we  were  at  the 
pretty  English  inn  that  is  nestled  in  the  valley,  with  a 
green  lawn  in  front,  and  a  fountain  playing,  I  looked 


64  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

across  the  river  to  the  mountain  on  the  other  side  with  a 
feeling  that  was  more  tender,  as  it  bears  a  familiar  name 
that  was  given  to  it  many  years  since,  when  my  brother 
Cyrus  came  through  this  pass  in  company  with  one  of 
the  projectors  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  in  honor 
of  whom  the  mountain  just  described  was  christened 
Mount  Stephen  (and  who,  having  since  been  raised 
to  the  peerage,  has  taken  back  the  name  as  his  title,  and 
is  now  known  as  Lord  Mount  Stephen),  who  himself 
proposed,  in  respect  for  one  who  had  done  so  much  to 
unite  England  and  America,  that  the  sister  mountain 
should  be  called  Mount  Field.  It  is  according  to  the 
fitness  of  things  that  these  two  Alpine  heights  should 
stand  facing  each  other,  as  perpetual  memorials  of  the 
friendship  of  those  whose  names  they  bear,  and  of  the 
work  which  they  did,  each  in  his  way,  to  promote 
the  peaceful  intercourse  of  mankind. 

All  this  came  to  me  as  I  sat  in  the  twilight,  looking 
up  to  that  snow-clad  peak,  on  which  the  sunset  lingered, 
and  found  comfort  to  my  sad  heart  in  thinking  that, 
though  my  brother  had  passed  out  of  my  sight,  in  this 
new  empire  which  is  rising  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  one  of 
the  most  commanding  summits  in  all  its  great  ranges 
would  preserve  to  future  generations  his  beloved  name. 


V 


-  ••     •: 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   GLACIEK   OF   THE   SELKIKKS 

AT  THE  FOOT  OF  MOUNT  STEPHEN. — Dear,  dainty  dell ! 
Dropped  from  the  clouds  into  the  heart  of  the  "wilderness ! 
Yet  not  quite  like  the  gentle  dew  from  heaven,  or  the  rain 
upon  the  mown  grass,  but  only  when  the  skies  are  wooed 
and  won  by  the  loving  toil  of  man.  Nature  had  provided 
only  a  river,  which,  finding  its  level  at  the  foot  of  the 
pass,  overflowed  its  banks  in  the  springtime,  when  the 
snows  melt  upon  the  mountains,  and,  cutting  out  a  little 
space  from  the  nearest  slope,  made  a  few  acres  of  level 
ground.  But  it  was  not  till  the  sturdy  woodman  came 
and  laid  his  axe  at  the  root  of  the  trees,  that  sunshine 
was  let  into  the  gloom  of  the  forest.  Then  long  trains 
brought  loads  of  rich  soil  to  spread  over  the  barren 
surface,  and  so  in  due  time  a  bit  of  Old  England  was 
indeed  "  dropped  from  the  clouds  "  into  the  heart  of  the 
American  wilderness. 

But  the  picture  would  not  be  complete  without  the 
English  inn.  The  English — in  whom  we  include  their 
descendants  on  this  side  the  Atlantic — are  the  only  people 
in  the  world  who  understand  the  full  meaning  of  the 
word  comfort.  The  French  excel  in  show,  in  architec- 
ture and  in  decoration,  but  for  the  interior,  give  me  the 
English  home  and  the  English  inn,  with  its  open  fires 
and  "creature  comforts,"  to  restore  the  vitality  of  the 
5 


66  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

wearied  traveller.  It  was  good  to  find  such  a  haven  of 
rest  at  the  close  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  our  celebration 
of  which,  if  glorious,  was  somewhat  fatiguing.  Person- 
ally I  did  not  mind  it,  for  I  count  myself  an  old  soldier 
in  the  grand  army  of  travellers.  But  the  case  is  different 
with  a  young  recruit,  whose  very  ardor  may  spur  her  to 
exertions  beyond  her  strength,  and  for  once  I  felt  real 
anxiety.  But  a  warm  bath  and  good  soft  bed  are  great 
restorers,  to  which  I  trusted,  and  not  in  vain. 

Thus  relieved  from  my  fears,  I  returned  to  the  ver- 
anda, and,  looking  up  at  the  mountains,  questioned  the 
very  intelligent  landlady  about  the  life  in  this  corner  of 
the  world. 

"  It  must  be  very  lonely  here  in  the  winter  ? " 
"  Yes ;  though  we  see  a  little  of  the  world  every  day." 
The  trains  bound  east  and  west   both  stop   for  half 
an  hour,  the  one  for  breakfast  and  the  other  for  supper, 
so  that  she  saw  new  faces  and  heard  new  voices,  but 
what  was  it  ?    A  stream  that  swept  by  like  the  river  be- 
fore her  door  and  vanished  into  vacancy !     She  said  : 
"  They  come  and  go,  and  we  never  see  them  again." 
The  solitude,  it  seemed  to  me,  must  be  increased  by 
the  position  in  a  valley  shut  in  by  high  mountains,  above 
which  the  sun  rises  "behind  time"  in  the  morning,  and 
sets  "before  time"  in  the  evening;  thus  shortening  the 
day  at  both  ends,  so  that  the  night  is  longer,  and  the 
day  shorter,  than  on  the  mountain  top  or  in  the  open 
plain. 

"  But  have  you  no  neighbors  ? " 

"  Only  those  employed  on  the  railway ;  wood  chop- 
pers who  cut  down  trees  for  railroad  ties ;  or  workmen 
who  keep  the  track  in  repair." 

"  And  do  you  never  have  unexpected  guests  ? " 


THE   GLACIER  OF  THE   SELKIRKS  67 

"  Yes ;  sometimes  we  have  a  flood  of  people,  for  whom 
we  can  hardly  find  places  to  sleep,  or  food  to  eat.  Only 
two  months  ago  the  washouts  to  the  west  swept  away 
bridges  and  embankments,  so  that  the  track  was  broken 
in  many  places ;  for  weeks  they  had  to  carry  passengers 
in  boats  up  and  down  the  Fraser  River,  till  the  track 
could  be  repaired.  As  it  was  broken  quite  near  us,  the 
course  of  travel  was  stopped  at  this  point,  and  the  reports 
sent  abroad  were  very  alarming." 

"  I  remember  having  read  in  the  New  York  papers 
that  a  Raymond  party  was  lost ! " 

"  Yes,"  she  answered,  "  and  at  that  very  time  that 
very  party  was  here  at  '  Field,'  safe  under  this  roof,  and 
subject  to  no  greater  hardship  than  detention  on  their 
journey.  But  as  days  passed  by  the  number  of  storm- 
bound travellers  increased  till  there  were  a  hundred  and 
sixty !  Of  these,  however,  sixty  were  Chinamen,  who 
could  be  bestowed  in  the  adjacent  cabins  and  fed  with 
whatever  could  be  found  for  them,  while  the  hundred 
had  to  be  squeezed  together  as  closely  as  possible  to  find 
places  for  them  to  lie  down,  and  supplies  for  the  table. 
But  everything  was  done  that  could  be  done  for  their 

*/  o 

comfort  during  the  time  of  this  enforced  delay,  while  the 
whole  expense  was  borne  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
way Company." 

This  incident  shows  that  the  inns  which  the  Company 
has  built  through  the  mountains  are  not  intended  merely 
to  be  picturesque  objects  in  the  landscape,  nor  even  hos- 
telries  for  travellers,  but  life-saving  stations  also,  as 
much  as  those  erected  on  a  stormy  and  rock-bound  coast 
for  sailors  who  are  in  danger  of  perishing  by  shipwreck. 
They  are  houses  of  refuge  as  truly  as  the  hospices  on 
the  top  of  the  Alps — on  the  Simplon  and  the  Great  St. 


68  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

Bernard — for  the  rescue  of  those  who  might  otherwise 
be  buried  and  lost  in  the  snow. 

As  work  must  be  dull  at  times,  both  in  summer  and 
winter,  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  woodmen  might  take 
to  hunting,  and  I  asked : 

"  Is  there  game  to  be  found  in  the  woods  ? " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  was  the  answer,  "  and  you  need  not  go  far 
to  find  it.  There  are  bears  all  over  these  mountains,  and 
other  wild  animals.  Only  a  few  days  since  I  was  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river  with  a  friend,  and  through  the 
trees  we  saw  a  pair  of  sharp  eyes  fixed  on  us.  At  first  I 
could  not  make  out  what  the  creature  was,  but  looking 
more  closely  till  my  eyes  could  get  accustomed  to  the 
darkness,  I  saw  that  it  was  a  lynx  "  (a  sort  of  wildcat, 
that  is  said  to  grow  to  a  larger  size  in  Canada  than  any- 
where else  in  North  America).*  "  He  did  not  trouble 
us,  and,  of  course,  we  had  no  desire  for  his  company." 

As  the  winter  is,  of  course,  the  most  difficult  season  of 
the  year  to  work  the  railroad,  I  was  anxious  to  know  if 
the  passes  were  ever  blocked  by  storms  ;  if  the  snow  line 
hung  low  on  the  mountains  ;  and  if  avalanches,  or  "  snow- 
slides"  as  they  call  them,  ever  descended  into  the  valley. 
The  track,  I  find,  is  here,  as  on  our  own  Pacific  roads, 
protected  at  exposed  points  by  snow-sheds,  which  some- 
times extend  for  great  distances,  whose  steep  roofs  catch 
the  drifts  as  they  fall,  over  which  they  slide  into  the 
gorge  below. 

And  as  to  the  avalanche,  the  terror  of  Alpine  villages, 
surely  that  never  comes  here !  The  snow-banks  lie  so 

*  The  Canada  lynx,  the  loup-cercier  of  the  French  Canadians, 
is  said  to  be  the  largest  specimen  of  lynx  in  North  America.  It 
lives  in  the  deepest  woods,  and  rarely  approaches  human  habita- 
tions.— Appleton's  Cyclopedia, 


THE   GLACIER   OF   THE   SELKIRKS  69 

peacefully  on  the  mountain's  breast,  dripping  away  in 
drops  that  trickle  down  the  mountain  side,  and  glide 
away  in  rivers  to  the  sea ;  surely  nothing  in  nature  ever 
looked  more  innocent.  What  is  so  light,  so  feathery, 
as  particles  of  snow?  Is  there  anything  that  falls  so 
gently,  and  rests  so  lightly  on  the  bosom  of  mother 
earth  ?  It  is  the  one  thing  in  nature  that  we  choose,  as 
we  speak  of  the  down  of  the  swan,  as  the  emblem  of 
lightness  and  beauty  and  grace.  We  should  as  soon 
think  of  finding  terror  in  a  butterfly's  wing,  or  a  robin's 
song,  as  in  the  beautiful,  beautiful  snow.  And  yet, 
what  do  I  hear  to-night  ?  That  the  bank  of  snow  that 
gathers  on  yonder  mountain  top,  if  once  loosened  from 
its  base  and  set  in  motion,  will  come  thundering  down 
the  mountain  side  as  a  destroyer  of  everything  in  its  path, 
breaking  off  the  thick  trees  as  it  would  sweep  over  a  field 
of  grain.  And  as  for  the  thunder  of  its  voice,  a  year  or 
two  since  an  avalanche  descended  from  Mount  Field, 
the  concussion  of  which  (increased,  perhaps,  by  being 
thrown  back  from  Mount  Stephen)  was  so  tremendous, 
that  it  broke  every  window  in  the  hotel ! 

The  next  morning  the  young  traveller,  for  whom  I  had 
been  so  anxious,  appeared  after  her  night's  rest  as  fresh 
and  bright  as  ever ;  and  as  the  train  from  the  east  came 
in,  turning  out  its  load  of  passengers  for  breakfast,  the 
solitary  place  was  filled  with  life  and  gayety.  In  an 
hour  we  were  on  our  way,  and  so  full  were  we  of  the 
exhilaration  of  this  mountain  air,  and  so  determined  to 
see  everything,  that  we  took  our  places  again  in  the 
engineer's  cab,  where  I  now  felt  so  much  at  home  that  I 
even  did  the  honors  of  this  new  reception  room,  and  gave 
my  seat  to  a  couple  of  friends  from  New  York,  while  I 
stepped  outside  and  stood  by  the  boiler,  holding  on  by 


70  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

the  rod  that  serves  for  the  firemen  or  brakemen  as  they 
may  need  to  pass  up  and  down.  I  cannot  say  that  I 
should  always  choose  this  outside  passage,  but  for  once 
there  was  the  same  excitement  in  it  which  a  landsman 
finds  in  climbing  to  the  masthead,  from  which  he  can 
look  down  upon  those  on  deck,  but  from  which  he  is 
happy  to  descend  as  soon  as  possible. 

And  now  what  were  we  to  see  ?  The  day  could  not 
be  so  rich  in  experience  as  yesterday,  for  that  was  the 
culmination  of  grandeur  and  beauty.  And  yet  the  last 
word  of  Mr.  Mblock  as  he  left  us  in  the  evening  was : 
"  Tomorrow  you  will  begin  to  see  mountains  !  "  What 
did  he  mean  ?  To  me  it  seemed  then — and  seems  now — 
that,  familiar  as  he  is  with  all  the  peaks  from  the  plains 
to  the  Pacific,  the  mere  succession  of  one  after  another, 
the  fact  that  "  Alps  on  Alps  arise,"  gave  him,  as  it  would 
give  any  traveller,  the  impression  that  he  was  himself 
rising  higher  and  higher.  Whatever  the  explanation,  the 
fact  is  that  we  make  our  triumphal  march  across  the  con- 
tinent over  three  great  ranges,  which,  fifty  years  ago, 
when  little  was  known  of  their  geography,  were  grouped 
together  under  the  general  name  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, a  term  that  is  now  restricted  to  the  first  range, 
which  we  have  just  crossed ;  while  beyond  us  are  the 
"Selkirks"  and  the  "  Cascades,"  the  latter  including  the 
great  mountains  on  the  coast.  It  is  the  second  of  these 
— the  Selkirks — with  which  we  are  now  to  make  our 
acquaintance.  We  have  not  to  go  far  to  find  them,  for 
here  they  are  in  all  their  rugged  grandeur!  Hardly 
have  we  turned  our  eyes  from  the  Cathedral  of  Mount 
Stephen  before  we  see  on  the  western  horizon  the  Yan 
Home  Range,  a  mighty  battlement  of  mountains,  stand- 
ing up  against  the  sky,  as  if  to  bar  our  passage  to  the 


THE   GLACIER  OF  THE   SELKIRKS  71 

Western  Sea.  By  what  feats  of  engineering  this  cloud- 
capped  fortress  was  stormed  and  taken,  it  would  be  a 
thrilling  story  to  tell.  Mountains  are  not  to  be 
"  stormed  "  as  were  the  Heights  of  Abraham.  They 
can  only  be  taken  by  the  slow  process  of  siege,  working 
round  on  this  flank  and  on  that ;  and  if  still  kept  at  bay 
by  precipices  too  high  to  be  scaled,  and  too  broad  to  be 
flanked,  attacking  them  in  front,  boring  into  the  rock- 
ribbed  hills  and  making  a  tunnel  perhaps  miles  in  length, 
till  the  loaded  engine  that  has  been  standing  on  the 
heights  above,  chafing  with  impatience,  is  at  last  let 
loose,  and,  advancing  through  fire  and  smoke,  as  if  mak- 
ing a  charge  in  battle,  issues,  like  some  wild  monster 
escaped  from  prison  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 
rushes  madly  down  the  side  of  the  mountain.  Such  was 
the  achievement  here,  one  of  many  proofs  of  the  bound- 
less energy  of  one  man,  who  did  more  than  any  other  to 
carry  through  the  daring  and  magnificent  enterprise  of 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  in  honor  of  whom  this 
lofty  range  fitly  bears  his  name. 

With  such  an  introduction  to  the  Selkirks,  I  began  to 
think  that  Mr.  Niblock  had  not  overstated  the  matter 
when  he  said,  "  Tomorrow  you  will  begin  to  see  moun- 
tains," as  we  climbed  steep  ascents,  one  after  another, 
and  at  times  seemed  for  a  few  minutes  to  be  suspended 
in  air,  while  we  crept  slowly  over  a  bridge  that  spanned 
some  mountain  gorge,  from  which  we  looked  down  into 
the  abyss  below. 

So  rapidly  did  these  scenes  succeed  one  another  as 
almost  to  fatigue  the  eye,  and  we  were  not  sorry  to 
break  our  journey  again  for  a  day  of  rest  at  Glacier, 
which,  like  Field,  is  set  in  a  deep  valley  in  the  heart 
of  the  mountains.  In  their  general  features  the  two 


72  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

places  are  alike.  Both  have  their  green  lawns  and  spark- 
ling fountains.  But  one  feature  Glacier  has  which  Field 
has  not — a  stream  pouring  down  the  face  of  the  moun- 
tain (which  stands  over  against  it),  and  lighting  up  the 
dark  background  of  the  forest.  This  reminded  me 
instantly— -as  it  must  remind  every  one  who  is  familiar 
with  Swiss  scenery — of  the  Staubbach  in  the  valley  of 
Lauterbriinnen.  One  difference  there  is,  which  varies 
the  scene.  The  Staubbach  descends  in  a  single  leap, 
with  nothing  to  break  its  fall,  and  before  it  touches  the 
earth  is  dissolved  in  spray  ;  while  here  the  silver  current 
comes  down  in  a  series  of  cascades  that  keeps  the  stream 
unbroken  to  the  end.  In  both  waterfalls  there  is  the 
charm  of  contrast  with  the  surroundings,  the  ever-flow- 
ing stream  taking  on  new  life  and  beauty  as  it  flashes 
over  the  eternal  rocks,  and  its  dashings  mingle  with  the 
murmur  of  the  dark  funereal  pines. 

In  this  enchanted  valley  is  the  inn,  which  has  one 
advantage  over  that  in  which  we  slept  last  night — that, 
as  at  certain  seasons  it  is  a  resort  for  hunting  parties, 
it  has  an  annex,  which  doubles  its  capacity  for  guests. 
In  this  we  found  not  only  large  private  rooms,  but  a 
spacious  parlor,  of  which,  as  by  good  fortune  it  was  not 
occupied  to-day,  I  took  possession,  spreading  out  my 
books  and  papers,  and  doing  my  reading  and  writing  as 
if  I  were  in  my  own  library.  In  this  delightful  place 
of  rest  we  spent  twenty -four  hours. 

But,  of  course,  the  first  duty  of  a  traveller,  in  coming 
to  a  place  far  off  in  the  wilderness,  is  to  see  the  sight 
which  has  made  it  famous.  The  sight  here  is  the  great 
glacier  of  the  Selkirks.  As  it  must  be  approached  on 
foot,  which  involves  a  good  deal  of  fatigue,  I  excused  my 
young  lady  from  the  attempt,  and  left  her  to  her  rest, 


THE   GLACIER   OF  THE   SELKIRKS  73 

while  I  accepted  the  offer  of  the  landlord  to  be  my  guide, 
and  taking  our  staffs  in  hand,  we  set  out,  as  if  we  were 
two  pilgrims  on  our  way  to  the  Delectable  Mountains. 

We  had  not  gone  far  before  we  saw  proof  of  the 
destructive  power  of  an  avalanche.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  valley,  through  which  the  glacier  forces  its  way, 
is  a  mountain  covered  with  forest,  where  it  seemed  as  if 
all  the  snows  of  winter  might  fall,  hardly  breaking  more 
than  the  twigs  of  the  trees.  But  only  a  few  years  since, 
the  drifts  were  piled  so  high  that  they  broke  loose  and 
came  down  with  the  fury  of  a  cyclone,  cutting  off  trees 
two  feet  thick  like  saplings.  Nor  did  the  avalanche  stop 
when  it  had  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  but  swept 
across  the  valley,  and  some  distance  up  the  slope,  on  the 
other  side,  carrying  destruction  before  it.  This  is  a  big 
story,  and  I  shall  not  be  offended  if  some  of  my  readers 
shake  their  heads  in  doubt,  for,  in  truth,  I  should  hardly 
believe  it  myself  if  I  had  not  seen  with  my  own  eyes  the 
wreck  it  made. 

From  here  the  path  leads  across  a  stream,  which,  as  it 
never  ceases  its  flow,  indicates  the  inexhaustible  source 
which  it  finds  in  the  glacier  by  which  it  is  fed.  Climb- 
ing slowly  upward,  we  come  at  last  to  the  foot  of 
the  glacier,  whose  first  appearance  is  disappointing,  as 
one  sees  no  tall  cliffs  of  ice  shining  in  the  sun,  nothing 
but  a  vast  snow-bank,  strewn  with  all  the  debris  of 
winds  and  storms.  Coming  up  closely  to  it,  I  first 
mounted  one  of  the  great  boulders  that  lie  in  front 
of  it,  and  took  a  view  from  a  respectful  distance. 
Then,  getting  bold  by  familiarity,  I  came  nearer,  till  I 
laid  my  hand  upon  it,  as  upon  some  fearful  power  that 
I  hardly  dared  to  touch,  and  in  a  foolish  freak  threw 
myself  down  and  crawled  under  it,  and  even  tried  to  woo 


74  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

the  creature  in  whose  power  I  was  by  putting  my  face 
against  the  glistening  surface  above  me  ;  but  it  made  no 
response — its  kiss  was  cold  as  the  lips  of  death.  Then 
crawling  out  again,  and  returning  to  the  rock,  I  looked 
the  grim  monster  in  the  face,  and  asked,  "What  are 
you?  How  long  have  you  been  ploughing  this  moun- 
tain side,  and  how  long  will  you  continue  your  work  of 
destruction  ? "  As  to  its  substance,  anybody  can  see  that 
it  is  an  enormous  mass  of  ice  and  snow.  But  how  great 
is  it,  and  how  long  has  it  been  accumulating?  That  bank 
is  probably  hundreds  of  feet  thick,  and  it  may  have  been 
piling  up  for  hundreds  of  years !  As  to  its  extent  of  sur- 
face, we  see  only  what  reaches  to  the  top  of  the  nearest 
ridge ;  but  if  we  were  to  climb  to  that  spot,  we  should 
see  that  it  stretches  far  away  over  other  heights,  and 
down  into  valleys,  till  one  can  hardly  say  where  it  ends. 
I  believe  the  men  of  science  reckon  it  to  be  fifteen  miles 
long. 

And  this  is  not  a  dead  mass,  powerless  and  motionless, 
but  is  moving  on  day  and  night,  with  a  power  hardly  less 
than  any  of  the  forces  of  nature,  unless  it  be  that  of  the 
ocean  itself.  And  even  the  "cruel,  crawling  foam"  of 
the  sea  is  not  more  "  cruel  "  and  "  crawling  "  than  the 
"foam"  of  the  ice  and  snow,  beneath  which  are  the  ever 
open  crevasses  of  the  glacier,  presenting  so  many  slippery 
paths  to  destruction.  Seeing  what  a  part  it  plays  in  these 
mountains,  we  are  more  ready  to  accept  the  theory  of  an 
Ice  Age,  a  Glacier  Epoch,  when  masses  of  ice,  large  as 
islands  in  the  sea,  swept  over  continents,  changing  cli- 
mates, and  even  the  formation  of  the  globe.  Into  all 
this  I  do  not  enter,  but  one  lesson  I  find  here  (preachers 
are  always  looking  for  lessons) :  that  in  the  material 
world  law  works  inexorably,  whether  to  create  or  to 


THE   GLACIER  OF  THE   SELKIRKS  75 

destroy.  The  forces  of  nature  are  but  the  outward  man- 
ifestations of  that  power  of  the  Almighty  which  is  behind 
them  all.  If  the  sceptic  will  not  listen  to  one  speaking 
from  the  Bible,  let  him  go  out  on  this  mountain  side,  and 
mounting  some  huge  boulder  that  was  thrown  down  ages 
ago  by  a  force  that  is  as  mighty  to-day  as  it  was  then,  he 
may  take  it  for  a  type  of  the  weight  and  force  of  the 
moral  law,  of  which  all  material  laws  are  but  types  and 
emblems,  and  say  in  sad  solemnity :  "  "Whosoever  shall 
fall  on  this  stone  shall  be  broken,  but  on  whomsoever  it 
shall  fall  it  will  grind  him  to  powder." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TO   VANCOUVER   AND   VICTORIA 

GLACIER,  where  we  spent  such  a  restful  day,  is  a  place 
of  meeting  for  the  trains,  which  do  not  glide  by  each  other 
in  darkness,  like  "ships  that  pass  in  the  night,"  but  stop 
in  broad  day  for  dinner,  so  that  travellers  from  the  east 
and  the  west  meet  on  the  same  platform  and  at  the  same 
table  for  a  good  half  hour — more  often  an  hour — time 
enough  to  exchange  friendly  messages,  and  speed  each 
other  on  their  way,  after  which  they  vanish  : — 

"Come  like  shadows,  so  depart." 

But  even  in  departing  they  linger  a  while  in  sight  of 
each  other,  for  the  track  here  describes  a  loop  that  circles 
round  three  sides  of  a  valley,  so  that  the  train  from  the 
west  comes  up  on  one  side,  and  makes  a  graceful  curve, 
as  if  it  were  with  a  bow  and  a  curtsey  to  its  sister,  and 
swings  round  to  the  other  side,  where  it  continues  its 
ascent  to  the  top  of  the  ridge ;  while  the  train  going  in 
the  other  direction  reverses  the  movement,  so  that  the 
two  remain  for  some  minutes  in  sight  of  each  other,  and 
friends  who  have  already  shaken  hands  and  said  good- 
by  can  wave  a  last  farewell. 

When  this  excitement  was  over,  and  we  settled  do\vn 
into  our  seats,  we  began  to  realize  that  we  were  on  the 
home-stretch  in  our  long  journey  across  the  continent, 


TO   VANCOUVER  AND  VICTORIA  77 

and  that  one  day  more  would  land  us  by  the  waters  of 
the  Pacific. 

We  were  now  on  the  down  grade,  but  we  were  not  to 
come  to  the  sea  by  one  long  continuous  descent,  but  by 
a  succession  of  ups  and  downs,  whereby  the  perpetual 
variety  is  continued  to  the  end.  Among  the  wild  scenes 
of  the  afternoon  was  the  Albert  Canon,  where  a  mountain 
stream  has  forced  a  passage  that  is  hardly  wide  enough 
for  itself,  but  in  Avhich  the  iron  track  has  demanded 
room,  and  found  it  high  up  on  the  cliffs  above.  Here 
the  train  halts  for  a  few  minutes,  that  the  passengers 
may  walk  out  upon  a  platform  and  look  down  into  a 
gorge  three  hundred  feet  deep ! 

We  are  now  in  the  heart  of  British  Columbia,  and  are 
coming  down  into  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  Eiver,  which 
we  crossed  at  Revelstoke  about  the  time  of  the  going 
down  of  the  sun.  What  a  noble  river  it  is,  broad  and 
deep,  and  flowing  with  a  swift  current !  But  have  we 
not  seen  it  before?  Did  we  not  cross  it  yesterday  ?  But 
then  it  was  running  in  another  direction  !  We  have  read 
of  "the  inconstant  sea,"  but  here  is  an  " inconstant" 
river.  The  Columbia  rises  in  British  Columbia,  just 
over  the  border,  and  begins  its  course  toward  the  north, 
and  so  continues  for  several  hundred  miles,  till,  as  Sir 
William  Yan  Home  playfully  puts  it,  it  "  gets  tired  of 
it,"  and  turns  southward,  and  crossing  the  line,  enters 
Oregon,  and  after  a  course  of  hundreds  of  miles,  with 
ever  accumulating  volume,  empties  into  the  Pacific.  So 
the  Columbia  belongs  neither  to  the  Republic  nor  the 
Dominion ;  neither  can  set  up  a  claim  to  the  exclusive 
possession  of  one  of  the  great  rivers  of  North  America, 
It  belongs  to  both.  Let  it  wander  where  it  will — north, 
south,  east,  or  west — its  windings  hither  and  thither, 


78  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

carrying  back  and  forth  the  commerce  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, will  be  so  many  coils  of  a  mighty  chain  to  bind 
together  two  peoples  whose  race  and  language  are  the 
same,  and  whose  true  interests  are  one. 

But  hardly  have  we  time  to  reflect  about  the  Columbia 
River  before  we  have  crossed  the  valley  and  are  up  again 
into  what  is  called  the  Gold  Range,  from  the  diggings 
that  have  been  worked  in  it  from  an  early  day.  But  the 
attraction  to  a  traveller  is  a  succession  of  small  lakes 
surrounded  by  the  forest,  in  which  we  recognize  the 
mighty  trunks  that  we  see  in  the  Coast  Range  of  Cali- 
fornia. 

The  next  day  was  the  last  of  the  week  and  of  our  long 
journey.  At  North  Bend  we  took  our  places  in  the 
observation  car,  for  we  had  need  of  all  our  eyes,  since 
the  Canadian  Pacific  ends  in  a  blaze  of  glory.  The 
Fraser  River  is  not  so  well  known  as  the  Columbia,  but 
in  scenery,  if  not  its  equal,  it  is,  as  the  racing  men  would 
say,  "  a  good  second."  Long  before  the  white  man 
came,  it  was  known  to  the  Indian,  not  as  the  happy 
hunting  ground,  but  as  the  happy  fishing  ground,  for  its 
catches  of  salmon  were  the  wonder  of  the  coast.  Ind- 
ians still  come  to  cast  their  nets  into  the  stream.  A 
touching  proof  of  their  former  occupation  is  seen  here 
and  there  in  the  grave  of  some  old  chief  along  the  banks, 
where  perhaps  he  had  wished  to  sleep, 

"  By  the  lone  river, 

Where  the  reeds  quiver, 
And  the  woods  make  moan," 


as  if,  "  in  his  narrow  cell  forever  laid,"  he  might  still 

hear  th< 

waters. 


hear  the  moaning  of  the  winds  and  the  murmur  of  the 


TO   VANCOUVER  AND  VICTORIA  79 

After  the  Indians  came  the  miners,  who,  while  pros- 
pecting and  digging  in  California,  had  heard  that  there 
was  gold  to  be  found  in  British  Columbia,  in  the  sands 
of  the  rivers,  and  in  the  gulches  of  the  mountains. 
Straightway  they  shouldered  the  pickaxe  and  started 
for  the  north,  where  they  found  access  to  the  land  of  gold 
by  way  of  the  Fraser  River.  I  suppose  that  there  was  an 
old  Indian  trail  on  the  left  bank,  Avhich  the  first  white 
adventurers  turned  to  account,  making  it  wide  enough 
for  their  loaded  teams,  beside  which  they  plodded  their 
weary  way.  But  the  railroad  apparently  disdained  the 
old  paths,  and  took  to  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  though 
it  was  forced,  as  it  were,  to  "  strike  in  the  face  "  a  suc- 
session  of  cliffs  that  line  the  river  for  more  than  twenty 
miles.  Against  these  cliffs  the  track  is  bolstered  up  wher- 
ever there  is  a  ledge  for  it  to  stand  on,  or  a  projecting 
point  to  which  it  can  cling,  and  when  all  fails  a  way  is 
cut  through  the  living  rock.  "We  were  all  in  a  state  of 
excitement,  as  we  leaned  out  of  the  windows  to  look  up 
at  the  crags  above  us,  and  then  down  at  the  waters 
rushing  and  swirling  below.  Talk  of  the  Iron  Gates  of 
the  Danube !  They  are  not  to  be  named  beside  the  Iron 
Gates  of  the  Fraser,  which  at  one  point  seemed  to  close 
upon  us,  and  to  be  barred  and  bolted,  to  forbid  our 
passage.  But  our  chariot  of  fire  stopped  not  even  to 
take  breath,  but  rushed  on,  flaming  and  smoking,  into 
the  heart  of  the  earth,  and  in  a  few  minutes  reappeared 
in  triumph,  careering  down  the  valley,  till  the  river  gave 
it  up,  for  as  we  crossed  a  bridge  to  the  left  bank,  it 
turned  to  the  right,  and  we  saw  it  no  more,  while  we 
kept  on  into  a  more  open  country,  till  at  one  o'clock  we 
completed  a  journey  of  nearly  three  thousand  miles ! 

Vancouver  is  itself  not  the  least  of  the  creations  of 


80  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

the  great  Company,  by  whose  choice  of  it  as  the  termi- 
nus of  a  transcontinental  railway,  it  was  at  once  fore- 
ordained to  greatness.  But  the  suddenness  with  which 
it  has  sprung  into  existence  almost  outdoes  our  own 
achievements.  Ten  years  ago  the  place  where  it  stands 
was  covered  by  the  primeval  forest.  But  suddenly  the 
wilderness  was  attacked  by  an  army  which  had  marched 
across  the  continent,  and  was  flushed  with  victory.  A 
hundred  axes  made  the  woods  ring,  and  soon  the  mighty 
oaks  and  firs  were  laid  low  ;  and  a  town  was  hardly 
drawn  on  the  map,  before  streets  were  laid  out,  and 
lined  at  first  with  woodmen's  cabins,  but  soon  after 
with  comfortable  homes,  among  which  rose,  in  due  time, 
many  beautiful  residences  and  tine  public  buildings.  On 
the  top  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  town  is  a  hotel  that  in 
size  and  architecture  would  not  be  out  of  place  in  any 
of  our  Eastern  cities.  I  need  hardly  say  that  it  has  been 
built  by  the  same  central  power  that  built  the  hotel  at 
Banff,  and  in  pursuance  of  the  same  wise  policy  that  has 
made  it  the  first  business  of  a  company  that  provides  for 
the  public,  to  consider  its  convenience  in  every  detail. 
Nothing  could  exceed  the  courtesy  which  we  have  met  at 
every  step  of  our  journey  from  Montreal  to  Yancouver. 
Hardly  had  we  reached  the  hotel,  before  the  Superinten- 
dent, Mr.  Abbott,  called  to  see  if  he  could  do  anything 
for  our  comfort.  He  took  us  about  the  town  to  all  the 
points  of  view,  on  the  best  of  which  stands  his  own 
residence,  with  its  foreground  of  lawn,  and  flowers  in 
bloom  every  where;  while  the  interior  is  filled  with  books 
and  pictures,  and  all  that  makes  the  beauty  of  an  English 
home. 

Another  feature  of  the  town  that  will  be  of  priceless 
value  in  the  future  is  the  reservation  of  a  very  large  por- 


TO   VANCOUVER   AND   VICTORIA  81 

tion  of  its  site  for  a  park,  which  (thanks,  perhaps,  to 
the  limited  means  of  the  first  inhabitants)  has  not  been 
spoiled  by  excess  of  floral  ornamentation.  The  forest 
is  left  as  nearly  as  possible  in  its  native  wildness,  with 
avenues  cut  through  the  woods,  and  drives  to  points 
where  one  can  get  the  best  lookout  upon  the  sea. 

With  such  attractive  surroundings,  Vancouver  is  a 
beautiful  termination  of  a  transcontinental  highway, 
which  serves  the  double  purpose  of  business  intercourse 
and  political  union.  Not  that  mere  inter-communi- 
cation can  reconcile  antagonisms  created  by  war.  A 
dozen  railways  crossing  the  Rhine  could  not  make 
France  and  Germany  friends.  But  where  there  is  but 
one  people,  separated  by  great  distances  or  high  moun- 
tains, the  breaking  down  of  these  barriers  is  the  most 
direct  means  of  fusing  them  together.  Our  transconti- 
nental roads  have  brought  the  Pacific  Coast  nearer  to  us 
on  the  Atlantic;  and  what  they  have  done  for  us,  we 
should  rejoice  to  have  done  for  our  neighbors  on  the 
north,  who  have  not  only  shown  a  noble  rivalship  in 
enterprise,  but  have  at  the  same  time  adopted  a  political 
union  so  like  our  own. 

But  Vancouver  is  not  only  the  terminus  of  the  high- 
way upon  the  land,  but  the  starting-point  for  a  voyage 
upon  the  sea.  Here  are  waters  deep  enough  to  float 
the  largest  ships  in  the  world.  Mr.  Abbott  took  us  on 
board  the  Empress  of  China,  one  of  the  great  steamships 
that  have  been  built  for  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  in 
-connection  with  the  overland  railway.  It  was  lying  at 
the  wharf  close  to  where  our  train  stopped,  and  we  had 
but  to  walk  across  the  platform  from  the  one  to  the  other, 
and  need  not  (if  we  had  so  chosen)  have  even  put  our 
feet  to  the  ground  till  we  touched  the  soil  of  Asia  J 
6 


82  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

And  this  new  way  across  the  continent  is  the  nearest 
route  from  England  to  Eastern  Asia.  Eighteen  years 
ago  I  crossed  the  Pacific  as  the  last  stage  in  a  journey 
round  the  world.  Then  we  came  from  Yokohama  to 
San  Francisco,  the  course  to  which  seemed  very  direct. 
Yet  what  may  appear  on  the  map  most  direct  may  not 
be  the  shortest  nor  the  quickest.  To  quote  what  I  have 
written  elsewhere :  * 

"  "We  did  not  steer  straight  for  San  Francisco,  although 
it  is  in  nearly  the  same  latitude  as  Yokohama,  but  turned 
north,  following  what  navigators  call  a  great  circle,  on 
the  principle  that,  as  they  get  high  up  on  the  globe,  the 
degrees  of  longitude  are  shorter,  and  thus  they  can  '  cut 
across '  at  the  high  latitudes.  '  It  is  nearer  to  go  round 
the  hill  than  to  go  over  it.'  We  took  a  prodigious  s \veep, 
following  the  Kuro-shiwo,  or  Black  Current,  the  Gulf 
Stream  of  the  Pacific,  which  flows  up  the  coast  of  Asia 
and  down  the  coast  of  America." 

In  this  "great  circle  sailing,"  we  came  past  the  lati- 
tude of  Vancouver,  which,  though  some  degrees  farther 
north  than  San  Francisco,  is  realty  a  day  or  two  nearer 
to  Yokohama,  as  proved  by  marine  measurements  and 
by  repeated  vo}rages.  In  1876  we  were  seventeen  days 
at  sea,  and  thought  it  a  quick  passage.  Kow  the  English 
mails  have  been  carried  from  Yokohama  to  London, 
crossing  two  oceans — the  Pacific  and  the  Atlantic — and 
the  American  continent,  in  twenty-one  da}7s!  This  is 
indeed  bringing  the  ends  of  the  earth  together,  when  the 
farthest  west  looks  across  the  tranquil  Pacific  to  the 
farthest  east,  which  this  new  means  of  communication 
has  brought  nearer  than  ever  before,  for  which  we  say 

*  "From  Egypt  to  Japan,'*  page  421. 


TO   VANCOUVER  AND  VICTORIA  83 

that  its  constructors  "  builded  better  than  they  knew." 
They  set  out  to  unite  the  British  possessions  in  America, 
and  have  gone  far  towards  uniting  the  world. 

Here  then,  to  use  the  words  of  the  rousing  old  camp- 
meeting  hymn,  we  "  raise  our  Ebenezer  " — we  set  up  a 
milestone  to  mark  the  progress  of  the  nations.  Up  in  the 
mountains  that  we  passed  yesterday  is  a  spot  that  every 
traveller  can  help  to  make  historic  by  fixing  the  name 
and  date,  as  a  way  of  "  driving  a  nail "  where  one  was 
driven  before  on  a  memorable  occasion:  "At  Craigel- 
lachie,  twenty-eight  miles  from  Revelstoke,  the  last  spike 
was  driven  in  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  November 
7,  1885!"  That  spike  clinched  the  last  rail  in  one  of 
the  greatest  structures  ever  undertaken  by  man.  Thereby 
hangs  a  story  of  constructive  genius,  united  with  indom- 
itable courage  and  perseverance,  which  the  world  should 
not,  and  will  not,  "willingly  let  die!" 

Vancouver  is  not  an  open  port,  looking  out  on  the 
broad  expanse  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  not  so  am- 
bitious, but  is  content  with  the  foreground  of  a  peace- 
ful inland  sea,  which  lies  along  the  shore  of  British 
Columbia,  as  Long  Island  Sound  lies  on  our  eastern 
coast.  Beyond  this  western  sound  (to  continue  the 
comparison)  rises  an  island,  in  position  like  Long  Island, 
though  farther  out  to  sea,  and  of  far  more  majestic  pro- 
portions, as  it  is  eight  or  ten  times  as  large;  and,  instead 
of  being  low  and  flat — a  mere  sand-bank  thrown  up  by 
the  waves — it  is  dignified  by  a  range  of  mountains  two 
thousand  feet  high,  with  one  peak  nearly  six  thousand — 
far  higher  than  Snowden,  or  any  mountain  in  Great 
Britain.  But  this  need  not  touch  the  pride  of  England, 
for  they  are  all  in  British  possessions.  This  outlying 
island  was  not  left  by  accident  in  the  midst  of  the  seas, 


84  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

but  was  placed  there  by  the  Almighty  hand  for  a  pur- 
pose— to  serve  as  a  breakwater  to  the  great  ocean  that 
lies  beyond ;  so  that  if  the  typhoons  of  the  China  Sea 
were  to  send  a  tidal  wave  across  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  Pacific,  it  would  break  harmlessly  upon  these  rocky 
shores.  It  was  fitting  that  such  an  island  should  bear 
the  name  of  its  discoverer,  who,  beginning  his  naval 
career  under  the  great  explorer,  Captain  Cook,  after  his 
death  made  other  voyages  to  higher  latitudes,  where,  just 
a  hundred  years  ago,  he  discovered  and  gave  his  name 
to  the  most  important  island  on  the  western  coast  of 
North  America. 

The  impression  of  this  distant  view  was  greatly  in- 
creased when  we  put  out  into  the  deep,  and  could  at  the 
same  time  look  out  on  both  sides,  as  we  sailed  down  the 
Gulf  of  Georgia,  with  mountains  to  the  right  of  us  and 
mountains  to  the  left  of  us,  all  aglow  with  the  setting  sun. 

Crossing  from  Vancouver  to  Victoria  is  not  like  cross- 
ing the  ferry  to  Brooklyn,  for  Victoria  is  nearly  a 
hundred  miles  away,  and  it  was  after  midnight  that  we 
saw  in  the  distance  the  lights  of  the  harbor,  a  half 
hour  later  that  we  were  at  the  wharf,  and  two  o'clock 
when  we  were  at  rest  in  our  hotel. 

But  daylight,  however  early  it  may  come,  seldom  finds 
me  sleeping,  and  I  was  abroad  at  the  peep  of  day  to  take 
a  view  of  the  capital  of  British  Columbia.  No  change 
could  be  greater  than  that  from  Vancouver  to  Victoria. 
It  was  a  transition,  not  from  the  old  to  the  new,  but 
from  the  new  to  the  old ;  for,  while  Vancouver  has  not 
had  ten  years  of  existence,  Victoria  counts  its  full  hun- 
dred. 

The  city  was  quiet  and  still,  as  became  the  day  of 
rest.  Among  the  public  buildings  are  numerous  churches, 


TO   VANCOUVER  AND   VICTORIA  85 

of  which  the  Catholic  is  perhaps  the  largest,  though  the 
English  is  dignified  by  the  name  of  a  Cathedral ;  and  as 
the  morning  drew  on,  it  was  pleasant  to  see  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  holy  day,  in  the  people  going  to  their  differ- 
ent places  of  worship.  Some  of  our  party  were  gratified 
by  a  visit  to  the  harbor  of  Esquimault,  three  miles  dis- 
tant, the  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  English  fleet  in  the 
Northern  Pacific,  where  they  attended  divine  service  on 
board  the  Royal  Arthur,  the  Admiral's  ship,  at  which 
the  whole  ship's  company,  officers  and  crew,  attended 
with  the  utmost  reverence,  and  joined  in  the  prayers 
which  were  offered  at  the  same  time  in  the  churches  and 
cathedrals  of  dear  old  England. 

Though  Victoria  is  not  a  large  city,  it  has  a  quiet, 
English  dignity.  Its  streets  are  well  laid  out,  and  there 
are  many  fine  private  residences.  As  it  is  the  capital 
of  British  Columbia,  it  has  a  colonial  government,  for 
which  it  is  now  erecting  an  imposing  Parliament  House, 
which,  I  take  it  for  granted,  will  be  the  centre  of  all  the 
public  offices,  and,  perhaps,  of  the  courts  as  well ;  so  that 
it  will  be  a  sort  of  Temple  of  Justice. 

But  Yictoria  had  an  interest  for  me  that  was  quite 
apart  from  all  these  ;  that  was  wholly  personal,  which  I 
cannot  introduce  without  giving  a  bit  of  history.  I  have 
already  referred  to  the  great  service  rendered  by  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  in  the  work  of  confederation 
of  all  the  British  provinces  of  North  America.  Now 
that  the  thing  is  done,  it  seems  the  most  natural  thing 
in  the  world,  and  hence  the  most  easy ;  whereas,  it  was 
for  a  long  time  earnestly  and  almost  violently  opposed. 
It  was  not  a  union  into  which  all  parts  were  drawn  by  an 
irresistible  mutual  attraction.  On  the  contrary,  the  East 
and  the  West  were  as  much  divided  as  any  two  coun< 


86  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

tries  could  be.  They  were  not  only  hundreds  but  thou- 
sands of  miles  apart.  The  geographical  centre  was  not 
the  same  as  the  centre  of  population.  Hence,  the  in- 
difference to  union  was  greater  as  you  came  farther 
west,  till  at  last  the  whole  scheme  was  met  with  pro- 
nounced and  determined  opposition.  It  was  all  well 
enough  (so  the  people  reasoned)  to  have  a  grand  Confed- 
eration stretching  across  the  continent  in  order  to  gratify 
the  pride  of  the  East,  which,  having  an  immense  majority 
of  population,  would  take  to  itself  all  authority  and 
power.  But  what  good  would  it  do  to  British  Columbia  ? 
It  would  be  merely  the  tail  end  of  the  kite,  floating  out 
on  the  waters  of  the  Pacific.  The  people  of  this  coast, 
though  comparatively  few  in  number,  had  the  blood  of 
England  and  of  Scotland  in  their  veins,  and  did  not  care 
to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  more  populous  East.  If  the 
older  and  richer  provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada 
were  willing  to  undertake  the  enormous  enterprise  of 
opening  a  path  through  the  illimitable  forests,  of  bridg- 
ing the  rivers  and  scaling  the  mountains,  well  and 
good  !  Otherwise,  British  Columbia  would  stand  alone 
sitting  like  a  queen  upon  the  waters  of  the  North 
Pacific ! 

Here  was  an  opposition  that  required,  not  only  politi- 
cal wisdom  and  sagacity,  but  great  tact  and  a  spirit  of 
conciliation,  to  overcome.  To  meet  the  emergency  the 
British  government  picked  out  from  among  its  colonial 
governors  one  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  who  had  already 
shown  great  ability  as  the  Governor  of  Newfoundland, 
from  which  he  was  transferred  to  the  other  side  of  the 
continent.  He  found  that  the  difficulties  had  not  been 
exaggerated.  It  was  not  merely  a  desire  for  indepen- 
dence on  the  part  of  the  people  of  British  Columbia,  but 


TO  VANCOUVER  AND  VICTORIA  87 

it  seemed  to  them  that  their  interests  could  best  be  pro- 
moted by  keeping  their  separate  government.  On  board 
the  steamer  from  Vancouver  I  had  been  introduced  to 
Mr.  Justice  Crease,  who  has  lived  in  Victoria  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  was  at  that  very  time  the  Attorney- 
General.  He  told  me  how  the  Governor  had  been  in- 
jured by  a  fall  from  his  horse,  so  that  for  some  weeks  he 
had  to  keep  his  room,  where  the  Cabinet  met  beside  his 
bed,  and  consulted  how  the  obstacles  might  be  overcome. 
One  by  one  prejudices  were  removed,  and  the  popular 
feeling  conciliated.  But  still,  after  all,  there  remained 
one  insuperable  obstacle — the  barrier  which  nature  had 
interposed,  in  the  distance  which  separated  the  West 
from  the  East,  that  was  made  the  more  formidable  by 
the  triple  chain  of  mountains  that  had  to  be  crossed.  To 
this  there  could  be  but  one  relief,  in  an  assurance  that 
that  obstacle  should  be  removed  by  the  construction  of  a 
transcontinental  railway !  That  assurance  he  felt  author- 
ized by  the  Home  Government,  as  well  as  by  the  Cana- 
dian government,  to  give.  The  condition  was  accepted, 
and  upon  this  solemn  assurance  British  Columbia  sur- 
rendered her  separate  existence.  She  ceased  to  be.  The 
Governor  laid  down  his  office,  and  returned  to  England. 
For  this  successful  negotiation  Sir  Anthony  Musgrave 
has  sometimes  been  called  the  father  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway.  But  this  he  would  have  been  the  last 
to  claim,  for  he  was  as  modest  as  he  was  efficient  when 
any  work  was  to  be  done.  It  were  more  correct  to  say 
that  the  great  enterprise  had  many  "fathers,"  all  of 
whom  had  a  share  in  the  great  achievement,  and  should 
share  in  the  honor,  for  surely  there  is  enough  for 
all. 

But  what  have  I  do  with  it,  that  I  should  tell  the 


88  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

story  ?  Only  this,  that  when  the  Governor  of  British 
Columbia  had  accomplished  the  work  which  he  had  so 
much  at  heart,  he  had  the  further  happiness  that  his 
beautiful  home  was  brightened  still  more  by  the  pres- 
ence of  a  countrywoman  of  ours,  who  was  the  only 
daughter  of  one  for  whom  the  flags  in  the  city  of  New 
York  were  but  recently  at  half  mast,  Mr.  David  Dudley 
Field. 

With  such  memories  and  associations  I  could  not  go 
away  without  seeing  the  home  where  lived  one  of  my 
own  kindred,  and  so,  waiving  all  ceremony,  I  drove  to 
the  Government  House,  where  the  Lieutenant-Governor 
(British  Columbia  has  no  longer  a  Governor)  welcomed 
me  with  true  English  heartiness  and  cordiality,  and  took 
me  over  the  house.  "  This,"  he  said,  as  we  entered  a  large 
room  full  of  sunshine,  "  was  the  favorite  room  of  the 
Princess  Louise,  when  she  spent  six  weeks  here."  And 
then  he  took  me  out  upon  the  grounds,  which  command 
a  glorious  view  of  the  mountains  and  the  sea.  Yonder, 
Mount  Baker  stands  alone,  with  its  "  diadem  of  snow," 
while  on  the  other  side  of  the  Straits  of  Fuca  is  the 
grand  Olympic  Range.  What  a  place  of  beauty  to  be 
filled  with  happy  memories  !  As  I  left,  the  wife  of  the 
Lieutenant-Governor  would  have  me  take  in  memory  of 
the  place  a  bouquet  of  roses,  saying,  "  Perhaps  they  are 
from  a  bush  planted  by  the  hand  of  Lady  Musgrave ! " 
These  were  pleasant  memories,  and  yet  they  were 
mingled  with  sadness,  for  Sir  Anthony  Musgrave  (after  a 
long  career  of  usefulness  and  honor,  as  Governor  suc- 
cessively of  Newfoundland,  of  British  Columbia,  of 
Natal  in  Africa,  of  South  Australia,  of  the  Island  of 
Jamaica,  and  of  Queensland)  died  a  few  years  since  at 
Brisbane,  where  he  sleeps.  But  though  men  die  their 


TO   VANCOUVER  AND  VICTORIA  89 

work  lives,  and  it  was  to  me  a  proud  association  with 
Victoria,  that  it  once  had  been  the  home  of  one  who 
had  borne  himself  with  such  wisdom,  such  dignity,  and 
such  success,  that  his  name  here,  as  in  so  many  other 
parts  of  the  world,  will  long  be  held  in.  grateful  remem- 
brance. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   GREAT   AMERICAN   ARCHIPELAGO 

AT  last  we  are  on  the  waters  bound  for  Alaska !  The 
first  morning  I  was  on  deck  early  to  see  how  we  were  to 
be  provided  for  in  our  sea  home.  On  the  Pacific  one 
does  not  expect  the  magnificence  of  Atlantic  steamers, 
and  yet,  as  I  looked  round,  I  was  more  than  content 
with  our  new  quarters.  The  Queen  is  a  model  steamer 
for  inland  waters,  with  accommodations  that  are  the  per- 
fection of  comfort.  Some  of  us  got  more  than  comfort. 
My  niece  and  myself  each  had  a  stateroom  on  the  upper 
deck,  but,  as  if  this  were  not  enough,  she  was  pro- 
moted to  a  still  larger  room  opening  into  the  saloon, 
while  I,  who  had  left  my  better  half  far  away  in  the 
East,  was  comforted  in  my  loneliness  by  being  installed 
in  the  bridal  chamber !  This  was  not  comfort — it  was 
luxury.  Thus  once  more  the  lines  had  fallen  to  us  in 
pleasant  places. 

But  our  luxury  was  not  to  the  sacrifice  of  others'  com- 
fort, for  everybody  had  ample  room.  This  might  not 
have  been  quite  so  easy  if  the  ship  had  been  overcrowded, 
as  it  is  sometimes.  For  this  very  trip,  it  was  said  that 
over  two  hundred  passages  had  been  engaged,  but  scores 
were  prevented  from  coming  by  the  strikes  which  had 
just  broken  out,  and  that  were  especially  violent  on  the 
western  coast.  A  party  from  San  Francisco,  that  sue- 


THE   GREAT  AMERICAN  ARCHIPELAGO  91 

ceeded  in  getting  through,  had  a  pitiful  tale  to  tell  of  a 
blockade  so  close  that  not  a  train  could  move,  and  they 
had  to  take  to  the  sea  on  the  Walla  Walla,  in  which 
they  were  so  crowded  that  eighty-five  had  to  sleep  on 
the  cabin  floor  !  But "  all's  well  that  ends  well ; "  and  now 
that  they  were  safe  on  board,  they  had  the  more  elbow- 
room  from  the  very  fact  that  others  had  been  kept  away. 
But  though  the  number  was  reduced  by  the  strikes,  we 
still  mustered  over  a  hundred  passengers,  a  goodly  ship's 
company.  Of  course,  it  was  a  miscellaneous  gathering, 
but  it  proved  a  very  pleasant  one.  For  the  most  part, 
we  were  strangers  to  one  another,  and  yet  there  were  a 
few  familiar  faces  :  a  party  from  New  York  that  we  had 
met  at  Banff,  and  a  family  from  Brooklyn  ;  and,  nearer 
still,  a  lady  who  had  a  country  place  on  our  hill  in  Stock- 
bridge,  who,  with  her  sister-in-law,  was  returning  from 
a  voyage  to  Japan  and  China,  whose  sudden  appearance 
gave  us  at  once  the  feeling  of  being  with  old  neighbors 
and  friends. 

The  deck  of  a  steamer  that  is  over  three  hundred  feet 
long  furnishes  an  ample  promenade  to  take  our  "con- 
stitutionals." It  served  also  as  a  sitting-room  of  ample 
dimensions,  for  it  was  covered  with  a  double  awning, 
which  protected  us  alike  from  sun  and  rain ;  and  here  we 
spent  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  stretched  in  our  steamer 
chairs,  book  in  hand,  or  in  conversation  with  new  ac- 
quaintances from  this  side  of  the  continent,  who  were 
full  of  information  as  to  its  marvellous  growth.  But 
however  engaged,  talking  or  reading,  I  always  kept  an 
eye  out  upon  the  tranquil  sea,  and  the  mountains  that 
looked  down  upon  it.  We  were  returning  on  our  track 
in  sailing  up  the  Gulf  of  Georgia,  but  daylight  gave  us 
many  a  view  that  had  been  lost  before  in  the  darkness 


92  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

of  the  night.  The  mountains  that  \ve  had  seen  dimly 
as  mighty  shadows,  were  now  revealed  in  their  rugged 
grandeur,  as  they  stood  up  against  the  sky.  The  coast 
is  indented  by  deep  inlets  or  fiords  like  those  on  the  coast 
of  Norway,  between  which  bold  headlands  jut  into  the 
"confined  deep."  The  effect  of  this  panorama  of  moun- 
tains and  sea  was  heightened  by  the  perfect  weather  and 
the  cloudless  sky.  It  was  all  a  blissful  waking  dream,  as 
we  floated  on  silently  and  peacefully  over  the  soft,  slum- 
bering seas. 

So  the  day  drew  on,  followed  by  the  long  twilight,  and 
still  we  were  not  in  Alaska !  It  was  a  disappointment  to 
%  be  told  that  it  would  be  two  days  before  we  were  out 
.0  "of  British  waters.  ftThis  northwestern  boundary  of  the 
United  States  had  once  been  a  subject  of  controversy 
with  England,  which  roused  such  a  feeling  as  to  threaten 
war.  Of  course,  the  bare  possibility  of  a  call  to  arms 
was  enough  to  fire  the  blood  of  Young  America,  and 
our  youthful  warriors  aired  their  patriotic  enthusiasm  in 
the  terrible  alternative  which  they  presented  to  England  : 
"  Fifty-four  forty,  or  fight  !-^>  We  had  in  command  upon 
the  frontier  an  officer  who  was  in  such  a  belligerent 
mood,  that  he  was  ready  with  half  a  dozen  companies  of 
soldiers  to  attack  the  British  Empire !  And  indeed  he 
came  near  getting  us  into  trouble,  for  in  those  days  there 
was  no  telegraph  across  the  continent  by  which  the  gov- 
ernment could  communicate  with  those  in  command  at 
distant  points.  How  relieved  we  all  were  when  the  old 
hero,  General  Scott,  sailed  for  Panama  on  his  way  to 
Oregon !  v  As  soon  as  he  appeared  on  the  scene,  order  was 
restored  ;  and  the  two  small  bodies  of  troops  on  the  bor- 
der were  not  allowed  to  make  war  on  their  own  account. 

After  all  this  bluster,  it  was  rather  humiliating  to  find 


THE   GREAT  AMERICAN   ARCHIPELAGO  93 

that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  authorities,  the  territory 
in  dispute  did  not  belong  to  us,  but  to  England  !  But  it 
was  to  the  honor  of  our  country,  that,  when  the  proof 
was  made  clear,  the  point  was  yielded,  not  grudgingly 
and  in  anger,  but  gracefully ;  and  forty-nine  degrees  of 
latitude — instead  of  fifty-four  degrees  and  forty  minutes 
— was  accepted  as  the  true  northern  boundary  of  the 
United  States.  This  prompt  acknowledgment  was 
rewarded  some  years  after  (in  1872),  when  there  rose 
another  question,  as  to  the  channel  in  the  waters  divid- 
ing the  two  countries,  which  was  referred  to  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  who  decided  in  our  favor,  thus  giving  us 
the  large  island  of  San  Juan. 

But  in  spite  of  all  this,  I  dare  say  that  some  of  my 
countrymen,  as  they  sail  up  the  Gulf  of  Georgia,  find 
their  enthusiasm  chilled  by  the  cold  reflection  that  all 
these  woods  and  waters  are  not  ours  !  In  this  feeling  I 
do  not  share,  nor  would  my  enthusiasm  be  quickened  in 
the  slightest  degree  if  the  bird  of  freedom  were  soaring 
and  screaming  over  every  mountain  top.  It  is  nothing 
to  say  that  we  might  have  had  this  territory  if  we  had 
had  the  courage  to  fight  for  it.  Yes  ;  that  might  have 
been,  and  it  might  not!  Some  may  tell  us  that  we  got 
the  worst  of  the  bargain.  No  matter  if  we  did.  We 
got  what  was  right,  and  we  had  rather  be  right  than  be 
victorious.  But  in  fact  the  decision  was  for  the  advan- 
tage of  both,  whose  supreme  interest  it  was  to  be  at 
peace. 

At  the  time  this  territory  was  only  a  vast,  unsettled 
region  in  the  frozen  north — a  country  without  inhabi- 
tants. But  if  it  had  been  the  richest  country  in  the 
world,  we  could  not  afford  to%  take  that  which  did  not 
belong  to  us.  The  great  interest  of  nations  is  justice ; 


94  OUK  WESTEKN  ARCHIPELAGO 

and  if  there  be  a  point  on  which  they  should  stand 
upon  their  dignity,  it  is  in  a  proud  sensitiveness  to 
national  honor;  which,  if  there  be  a  doubt  about  a  claim, 
would  lean  to  the  other  side.  If  this  be  an  excess  of 
generosity,  a  little  touch  of  kindness  is  not  out  of  place 
between  kindred.  Might  not  Brother  Jonathan  say  to 
his  English  brother,  "  "What  is  that  between  thee  and 
me?  There  is  room  for  us  both  on  this  broad  continent, 
and  we  may  well  be  content  to  live  side  by  side,  at  once 
the  nearest  neighbors  and  the  best  of  friends." 

Here  ended  the  first  lesson  with  the  first  day.  The 
second  was  like  unto  it,  for  we  were  still  in  British 
waters,  though  not  quite  so  much  on  an  inland  sea  as 
when  in  the  channel,  which  is  smooth  and  unruffled 
because  protected  by  Yancouver  Island  from  the  inrolling 
waves  of  the  ocean.  That  breakwater,  three  hundred 
miles  long,  was  lost  when  we  passed  out  of  the  Gulf  of 
Georgia  and  came  into  the  more  open  Queen  Charlotte 
Sound,  where  we  were  able,  for  a  few  hours,  to  look  out 
on  the  broad  Pacific. 

The  next  day  we  crossed  the  parallel  of  fifty-four  degrees 
forty  minutes,  which  separates  Alaska  from  British 
Columbia.  At  St.  Mary's  a  single  house  Avith  the  Amer- 
ican flag  flying  over  it  marks  the  dividing  line,  and  we 
slowed  up  till  the  captain  could  go  on  shore  and  show 
that  his  papers  were  all  right;  and  when  we  started 
again  it  was  with  the  proud  consciousness  that  we  were 
in  the  waters  of  the  Great  Republic. 

An  American  would  not  be  quite  himself  if  he  did 
not  experience  some  glow  of  feeling  in  coming  into  a 
region,  however  distant,  that  belongs  to  his  country,  and 
in  part  belongs  to  him.  Every  man  in  the  United  States 
is  owner  of  Alaska,  to  the  extent  of  one  seventy  millionth 


THE   GREAT  AMERICAN   ARCHIPELAGO  95 

part  of  it.  Wherefore  it  becomes  him  to  look  sharply  at 
his  new  possession,  with  the  interest  which  comes  from  a 
feeling  of  proprietorship. 

He  has  the  more  reason  to  look,  because  Alaska  is  not 
like  any  other  State  or  Territory.  It  has  indeed  a  vast 
unexplored  interior  which  has  points  of  resemblance  to 
other  portions  of  our  country.  But  what  a  traveller 
sees  in  an  excursion  to  Alaska  is  simply  what  lies  along 
the  coast.  And  this  is  all  described  in  one  word  —  it 
is  an  Archipelago  —  a  sea  full  of  islands,  in  which  it 
suggests  a  comparison  with  other  archipelagoes  in  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  world.  Of  these  I  have  seen  the  two 
most  famous :  the  Greek  Archipelago,  lying  at  the  east- 
ern end  of  the  Mediterranean,  along  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor ;  and  the  Malayan,  at  the  southeastern  corner  of 
Asia,  which  includes  Sumatra,  Java,  and  Borneo,  each 
large  enough  for  a  kingdom — a  chain  of  islands  that 
stretches  away  to  New  Guinea,  and  forms  a  sort  of 
Giant's  Causeway  between  Asia  and  Australia.  But 
there  could  be  no  better  illustration  of  the  meagre  inter- 
est created  by  mere  size,  than  the  little  that  most  men 
know,  or  care  to  know,  about  the  mighty  Malayan  Archi- 
pelago, as  compared  with  the  interest  they  feel  in  the 
little  Greek  islands,  among  which  are  such  historic  spots 
as  Scio,  where  Homer  lived  and  sung,  and  Patmos,  where 
John  saw  heaven  opened  and  wrote  the  Book  of  Revela- 
tion. 

But  Alaska  has  no  history,  except  a  geological  history, 
which  is  of  interest  to  men  of  science,  as  indicating  the 
convulsions  which  have  shaped  this  part  of  our  continent 
long  before  man  appeared  upon  the  earth.  The  feature 
of  this  western  coast  is  a  chain  of  mountains,  which,  with 
its  extensions  north  and  south,  is  the  longest  in  the  world, 


96  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

as  it  reaches  far  upward  into  the  Arctic  Circle,  and 
downward  to  the  Cordilleras  of  Mexico  and  the  Andes 
of  South  America. 

If  this  were  all  that  was  to  be  said  of  the  country  that 
we  are  now  looking  upon,  there  would  be  no  Alaska. 
But  it  has  something  besides  mountains.  It  is  the  com- 
bination of  the  waters  with  the  mountains  that  gives  it 
a  character  that  is  quite  different  from  the  scenery  of 
Switzerland  and  other  mountain  regions  of  the  globe. 

Nor  is  this  all.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  two  greatest 
monuments  of  Almighty  power — the  mountains  and  the 
sea — are  side  by  side ;  but  it  seems  as  if  there  had  been 
a  time  when  they  were  at  war  with  each  other,  when 
volcanic  eruptions  burst  out  along  the  coast,  rolling  the 
burning  lava  into  the  sea,  which  turned  back  its  waves  to 
quench  all  this  fire  and  flame ;  and  that  then  still  might- 
ier eruptions  hurled  mountain  masses  into  the  deep, 
which,  standing  out  of  the  water  and  in  the  water,  be- 
came the  islands  that  are  strewn  along  this  coast  for  a 
thousand  miles.  And  when  the  war  was  over,  then,  as 
in  all  family  quarrels,  there  had  to  be  a  "  making  up," 
and  the  sea,  like  a  sister  offended,  yet  loving  and  forgiv- 
ing, came  back,  and  kissed  the  cold  rocks  that  had  marred 
her  face,  and  wrapped  her  arms  about  them,  till,  in  the 
lapse  of  ages,  they  were  clothed  with  verdure  and 
beauty. 

This  is  a  very  unscientific  explanation  of  the  Alaskan 
Archipelago,  but  it  may  answer  till  we  get  a  better; 
and  with  this  we  give  ourselves  up  to  looking  with  all 
our  eyes,  as  we  come  close  to  the  shores  and  gaze  into 
the  face  of  islands,  large  and  small,  which  follow  one 
another  with  a  disregard  of  order  that  is  bewildering. 
Sometimes  a  dozen  islets  put  their  heads  together  like  so 


THE   GREAT  AMERICAN  ARCHIPELAGO  97 

many  children  in  a  cluster,  through  which  it  requires  the 
most  skilful  navigation  to  make  our  way.  Not  only  is 
the  channel  narrow,  but  it  winds  and  twists  till  it  forms 
a  labyrinth  from  which  it  seems  impossible  to  emerge. 
Then  it  is  exciting  to  watch  the  man  at  the  wheel.  The 
great  ship  may  be  turned  about  with  a  very  small  helm, 
but  the  pressure  on  the  helm  must  be  very  gentle  when 
the  mistake  of  a  few  feet  would  throw  the  bow  upon  the 
rocks.  At  such  times  the  good  Queen  seemed  to  be 
conscious  of  the  delicate  part  she  had  to  play,  and  re- 
strained her  impatience,  feeling  her  way  gently,  till  the 
danger  was  past,  when  she  spread  her  wings  and  moved 
forward  majestically  into  the  open  sea. 

In  these  twists  and  turns,  it  was  not  strange  if  we 
sometimes  got  turned  about  in  our  geography,  and  hardly 
knew  the  points  of  the  compass.  In  such  perplexity  we 
had  recourse  to  an  old  pilot,  who  had  been  for  years  on 
these  waters,  and  knew  every  island  and  bay  and  glacier. 
Dear  old  "  Captain  George  "  seemed,  like  a  benevolent 
school-teacher,  to  delight  in  our  ignorance,  as  it  gave 
him  opportunity  to  show  his  knowledge,  and  when  we 
were  lost,  he  would  bring  out  his  chart  and  show  us  the 
precise  point  where  we  were,  and  how,  through  all  our 
windings,  we  were  steadily  making  progress  towards  the 
haven  where  we  would  be. 

When  we  were  out  of  danger,  even  though  it  were 
only  imaginary,  we  gave  a  sigh  of  relief  and  turned  with 
new  zest  to  the  study  of  the  islands  themselves,  in  which 
(if  man  may  criticise  nature)  there  is  at  first  an  oppres- 
sive monotony.  Day  by  day  the  scene  is  the  same — 
woods  and  waters  in  endless  succession.  In  the  early  days 
of  the  world,  when  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void, 
or  even  when  it  was  beginning  to  take  shape,  this  coast 
7 


98  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

must  have  had  a  haggard  appearance,  as  if  nature  ap- 
peared with  dishevelled  locks,  and  in  a  blind  fury,  not 
to  create,  but  to  destroy.  But  when  the  Spirit  of  God 
moved  upon  the  waters,  they  grew  calm,  and  the  savage 
rocks  were  "  clothed  upon  "  with  verdure  and  beauty. 

Looking  a  little  more  closely,  I  observed  that  every 
one  of  these  islands  was  built  up  with  a  certain  order. 
Beginning  at  the  water  line,  the  waves,  in  washing  away 
the  earth,  reveal  the  rock  foundation,  which,  as  it  girdles 
the  island,  seems  like  a  sea-wall  surrounding  a  fortress. 
On  this  immovable  base  rise  the  slopes  of  the  hills, 
covered  with  dark  evergreen  foliage,  whose  beauty  even 
the  winter  cannot  hide.  Each  separate  island  has  the 
same  shape — that  of  a  cone — and  each  is  plumed  and 
crested  with  pines.  But  I  correct  myself.  What  we 
call  pines  are  cedar,  fir,  and  hemlock.  Pines  grow  farther 
back  from  the  sea,  and  on  higher  ground.  Sometimes 
the  mountain  tops  are  capped  with  snow.  But  not  so 
often  as  might  be  supposed,  for  the  Japanese  Gulf  Stream 
flows  so  near  the  coast  as  to  diffuse  its  warmth  all  along 
these  shores,  so  that,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
these  islands,  though  so  far  in  the  north,  are  "  dressed  in 
living  green." 

But  in  a  ship's  company  as  large  as  ours,  there  is 
always  some  tough  old  fellow  who  does  not  care  for 
"  poetry,"  but  looks  at  everything  in  a  hard,  practical 
way,  and  puts  a  damper  on  our  enthusiasm  by  asking 
sharply,  "What  is  all  this  country  good  for,  anyhow? 
It  is  very  pretty  to  look  at,  but  in  all  these  Thousand 
Islands  there  isn't  an  acre  that  is  fit  for  any  kind  of 
agriculture.  A  farmer  couldn't  have  a  garden  patch  big 
enough  for  a  few  rows  of  corn  and  potatoes." 

But  a  country  may  be  poor  in  one  thing,  and  rich  in 


THE   GREAT   AMERICAN   ARCHIPELAGO  99 

another.  The  seal  fishery  alone  has  paid  all  that  Alaska 
cost  us.  And  as  to  agriculture,  if  a  man  cannot  raise 
corn,  he  can  perhaps  find  wherewith  to  buy  it.  Gold  has 
been  found  in  some  of  these  islands,  and  if  the  miners 
are  not  satisfied  with  the  food  supplied  by  "  the  abun- 
dance of  the  sea,"  but  must  have  their  roast  beef,  per- 
haps an  exchange  of  the  product  of  their  mines  for  a 
boat-load  of  provisions  from  the  boundless  stores  of  Mr. 
Armour,  in  Chicago,  would  be  agreeable  to  both  parties. 

And  the  forests  with  which  these  islands  are  wooded 
to  the  top,  do  they  not  furnish  an  inexhaustible  supply 
of  lumber  for  the  purposes  of  commerce?  Not  so  great 
as  some  other  parts  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  as,  for  instance, 
the  forests  on  the  Sierra  Nevada  in  California,  whose 
mighty  trunks  are  so  prized  for  ship  timber,  for  masts 
and  spars.  There  is,  indeed,  one  tree  grown  on  these 
islands  that  sometimes  attains  to  one  hundred  or  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  might  well  serve  to  make 
"  the  mast  of  some  great  admiral,"  were  not  its  wood  of 
too  fine  a  texture,  and  too  costly,  to  be  set  up  on  a  ship's 
deck  and  exposed  to  the  storms  of  the  ocean.  This  is 
the  Alaska  cedar,  which  is  one  of  the  precious  woods 
that  is  reserved  chiefly  for  household  furniture,  as  it  has 
at  once  the  hardness  required  to  take  a  fine  polish,  a 
delicate  color — a  pale  yellow — and  exhales  a  fragrant 
perfume.  But  for  timber,  the  trees  are  not  of  so  much 
value  after  we  get  above  Vancouver,  as  they  are  not  of 
the  same  majestic  stature.  Those  that  grow  on  the 
mountain  sides  are  but  stunted  specimens  of  what  may 
be  seen  in  the  great  forests  of  Washington,  Oregon,  and 
California. 

But  if  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  trees  of  this  north- 
ern climate  have  not  the  luxuriant  growth  of  the  tropics, 


100  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

yet  the  Arctic  vegetation  has  a  beauty  all  its  own.  The 
very  mosses  that  cling  to  the  rocks,  and  shiver  in  the 
winter  wind,  are  exquisite  in  form  and  color ;  while  of 
trees  the  two  kinds  of  spruce,  which  grow  in  millions, 
covering  rocks  and  hills  and  mountain  tops  with  their 
deep  green,  form  a  rich  background,  from  which,  not 
unfrequently,  leaps  a  waterfall,  making  a  trail  of  living 
brightness  down  the  dark  mountain  side.  Such  scenes 
cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  and  he  who  would  complain 
of  their  repetition  as  "  monotonous,"  might  as  well  com- 
plain of  the  monotony  of  the  starry  heavens. 

But  that  which  impressed  me  most,  as  we  sailed  on 
and  on,  was  the  absence  of  life.  It  was  a  world  all 
glorious  to  behold,  but  a  world  without  inhabitants. 
Even  of  animal  life  I  saw  nothing.  The  sea  itself  is, 
indeed,  full  of  life,  but  on  these  leafy  shores  I  saw  not 
even  a  deer  peering  out  from  under  the  trees.  In  the 
interior  there  are  bears  in  the  forests,  and  on  the  moun- 
tains, and  abundance  of  other  game  ;  but  on  the  islands 
I  saw  none.  Still  more  appalling  was  the  absence  of 
human  beings.  I  looked  for  Indians,  but  for  days 
together  I  saw  not  a  single  canoe  darting  out  from 
under  the  closely  wooded  shores.  I  did  not  even  hear 
the  dip  of  an  oar  in  the  distance.  All  was  silence  and 
solitude.  It  was  a  fresh,  new  world,  waiting  for  the 
footsteps  of  future  generations. 

When  those  generations  will  come,  we  cannot  tell. 
TVith  all  the  picturesqueness  and  beauty  of  this  Alaskan 
Archipelago,  we  cannot  expect  ever  to  see  it  the  home 
of  a  large  population.  It  may  have  a  few  hundred,  or  a 
few  thousand,  fishermen,  who  will  spread  their  nets  on 
the  top  of  the  rocks,  like  the  fishermen  of  ancient  Tyre. 
But  may  it  not  have  a  population  of  another  kind,  at 


THE   GREAT  AMERICAN   ARCHIPELAGO  101 

least  for  certain  months  of  the  year  ?  A  trip  to  Alaska 
is  already  one  of  the  recognized  summer  excursions,  as 
much  as  a  trip  along  the  coast  of  Norway.  May  not 
these  islands  be  the  sanitarium  of  the  North  Pacific,  to 
which  thousands,  worn  out  with  labor  and  care,  shall 
resort  to  inhale  the  fresh  air  of  the  sea,  and  grow  strong 
again  ? 

As  the  merchant  princes  of  Boston  have  seized  upon 
every  point  on  the  New  England  coast  from  Nahant  to 
Bar  Harbor,  why  should  not  the  princes  of  the  north- 
west build  their  cottages  by  the  sea  among  the  islands  of 
Alaska?  Here  are  sites  as  picturesque  as  any  in  the 
Swiss  or  Italian  lakes.  This  archipelago  has  hundreds 
of  Isola  Bellas,  that  will  be  no  less  beautiful  than  that 
in  Lake  Maggiore,  when  their  hillsides  are  terraced  and 
dotted  with  villas  looking  out  from  under  the  shade  of 
stately  trees,  with  many  a  nook  nestled  in  flowers  and 
vines.  In  another  generation  it  may  be  the  fashion  to 
have  a  seaside  cottage  in  Alaska !  Then  it  will  be  the 
resort  of  yachtsmen,  whose  launches  will  skim  these  in- 
land waters,  and  glide  through  these  narrow  channels, 
as  the  gondolas  glide  through  the  canals  of  Venice.  I 
can  almost  hear  the  song  of  the  gondolier  ! 

And  why  should  not  instruction  follow  in  the  steps  of 
pleasure?  Was  not  this  beautiful  coast  scenery  fore- 
ordained by  its  natural  fitness,  and  therefore  by  "  natural 
selection,"  for  the  Chautauquas  of  the  Pacific,  where  the 
many-voiced  teachers  of  our  day  may  pitch  their  tents, 
and  discourse  of  wisdom  and  of  truth  ? 

All  this  may  seem  the  wildest  fancy.  But  old  men  are 
permitted  to  dream  dreams  and  see  visions.  Did  the 
wise  men  of  the  East,  who  taught  in  the  groves  of  the 
Academy,  exhaust  all  the  wisdom  of  the  ages  ?  In  some 


102  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

things — as  in  science — the  moderns  know  more  than  the 
ancients.  And  as  for  the  great  problems  of  life,  they 
are  the  same  for  men  of  all  countries  and  all  times.  So, 
visionary  as  it  may  be,  I  will  indulge  the  hope  that  in 
the  future  this  American  Archipelago  may  serve  for 
something  more  than  for  pleasure  and  for  health,  even  as 
a  place  for  high  thoughts  and  generous  inspirations  to 
all  who  sail  along  these  shores. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   GLACIERS 

NEXT  to  the  wilderness  of  islands,  and  the  great 
mountains  on  the  coast,  the  wonder  of  Alaska  is  its 
glaciers.  We  had  a  foretaste  of  these  on  the  Canadian 
Pacific,  at  Lake  Louise,  and  in  the  great  glacier  of  the 
Selkirks.  But  these  were  only  the  porticoes  of  the 
wondrous  temple  of  ice  and  snow  that  we  are  now  to 
enter.  And  here  the  ascent  is  gradual,  from  glory  to 
glory.  Even  in  Alaska  we  do  not  find  the  most  stupen- 
dous glaciers  till  we  reach  Upper  Alaska.  It  is  not  till 
we  pass  Fort  Wrangel  that  we  begin  to  open  our  eyes  in 
awe  and  wonder. 

The  first  thing  that  arrests  attention  is  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  coast  line,  which  is  corrugated  with 
mountain  ridges,  between  which  are  the  fiords.  The 
fiord  is  the  home  of  the  glacier;  we  might  even  say 
the  creation  of  the  glacier,  which,  by  the  mere  force  of 
gravity  dragging  it  downward,  and  by  the  storms  that 
pile  up  new  drifts  behind  it,  is  pushed  onward,  till  the 
accumulated  mass  cuts  a  deep  fissure  on  the  mountain 
side. 

Perhaps  the  geologist,  who  would  speak  with  scientific 
accuracy,  would  say  that  the  glacier  is  not  the  sole 
creator  of  the  fiord,  nor  its  original  "  inventor,"  but  that, 
before  the  ice  and  the  snow  began  to  descend  in  the 


104  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

path  of  destruction,  there  was  a  great  catastrophe  in  the 
mountain  ranges.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  coast  line 
is  not  straight,  but  curved  or  waving,  winding  in  and 
out,  as  if  it  would  follow  the  line  of  beauty  ;  and  what 
is  still  more  remarkable,  that  it  corresponds  to  the  line 
of  the  mainland,  so  that  they  are  evidently  parts  of  one 
whole,  and  were  once  interlocked  in  a  close  embrace, 
from  which  they  were  torn  apart  by  some  eruption,  but 
still  keep  in  sight  of  each  other,  as  if  they  hoped  some 
day  to  come  together  again.  A  similar  separation  has 
taken  place  in  California,  only  that  the  rocks  and  cliffs 
that  have  been  set  off,  like  offending  children,  from  the 
mother  chain,  the  Sierra  Ma'dre,  have  not  been  driven 
quite  so  far  from  house  and  home,  but  only  pushed  for- 
ward a  certain  distance,  to  form  a  lower  range,  a  sort  of 
advance  guard  for  the  snow-clad  mountains  behind ; 
while  a  thousand  miles  farther  north,  these  ejected  mem- 
bers of  the  great  family  of  mountains  are  literally  thrown 
out  to  sea,  so  that  the  foot-hills  of  California  become  the 
islands  of  Alaska. 

But  enough  of  science ;  let  us  take  our  seats  on  deck, 
under  the  awning,  and  look  for  ourselves.  This  is  a  red 
letter  day,  for  as  we  sail  northward,  glacier  after  glacier 
unveils  its  glittering  form  as  it  shines  so  brightly  on  the 
dark  background  of  the  mountains.  And  now  we  turn 
into  Taku  Inlet,  on  a  little  matter  of  domestic  economy, 
to  take  in  a  supply  of  ice  for  the  ship.  The  bay  is  full  of 
fragments  of  the  mighty  glacier  that  glistens  miles  away 
at  the  end  of  the  fiord.  Within  a  few  rods  of  the  Queen 
there  is  enough  of  floating  ice  to  supply  the  British  navy. 
Look  how  the  sailors  fish  for  it !  They  catch  the  berg 
in  a  net ;  but  the  net  must  be  large  and  strong.  It  is 
made  of  the  stoutest  cordage,  and  when  it  is  cast  into 


THE   GLACIERS  105 

the  sea,  with  the  skill  of  fishermen  they  draw  it  around 
some  ice-floe,  which  in  an  instant  is  hauled  up,  as  they 
would  haul  in  a  monster  fish,  and  once  on  deck,  is  put 
under  the  axe,  and  cut  up  into  blocks,  to  be  stowed  away 
in  the  bunkers  below.  It  was  a  novel  experience  to  feed 
on  icebergs ;  to  have  a  glacier  as  an  attachment  to  the 
culinary  department,  serving  us  with  a  necessity  of  our 
daily  food,  not  by  the  pound,  but  by  the  ton  ! 

As  we  resume  our  course,  these  observations  of  nature 
are  interrupted  by  seeing  in  the  distance  a  town,  which, 
though  we  should  not  count  it  as  much  more  than  a  village, 
is  the  largest  town  in  Alaska.  This  is  Juneau,  so  called 
from  a  Frenchman  who  had  the  good  luck  to  find  gold  in 
this  vicinity.  The  greatest  thing  it  has  to  show,  in  proof 
of  what  treasures  may  yet  be  found  in  the  earth,  is  the 
Treadwell  Mine,  a  mile  or  two  from  the  town,  where, 
though  the  ore  is  of  a  low  grade,  yielding  only  from  three 
to  nine  dollars  a  ton,  yet  the  amount  of  ore  is  so  great,  and 
the  cost  of  reducing  it  by  the  improved  processes  so  small, 
that  the  product  is  sixty  thousand  dollars  a  month !  The 
stamping  mill  by  which  the  rough  ore  is  ground  to  pow- 
der is  the  largest  in  the  world  !  So  they  say,  and  so  I 
believe,  having  tramped  through  it ;  and  as  to  the  energy 
with  which  it  is  worked,  I  can  testify  that  it  is  a  veritable 
Vulcan's  Cave,  with  its  two  hundred  and  forty  "stamps," 
resounding  like  so  many  trip-hammers  that  never  cease 
their  clang.  The  manager  told  me  that  for  some  months 
it  had  stopped  ~but  once  (and  then  only  for  a  few  minutes), 
running  day  and  night,  weekdays  and  Sundays ! 

Of  course,  where  there  is  gold,  or  even  the  possibility 
of  finding  it,  thither  will  flock  all  sorts  of  adventurers ; 
and,  as  Juneau  is  the  point  from  which  they  set  out  on 
their  voyages  of  discovery,  its  business  is  largely  that  of 


106  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

furnishing  supplies  for  the  outfit  of  the  miner's  camp : 
tents  and  tools,  shovels  and  pickaxes,  powder  and  dyna- 
mite, with  fishing  tackle  for  the  rivers,  and  guns  for 
game,  or  to  protect  himself,  if  perchance  he  should  meet 
with  bears  or  wolves,  or  with  robbers,  more  merciless 
than  wild  beasts. 

What  long  journeys  start  from  this  point !  Here  is  a 
party  that  is  bound  for  the  Yukon  River,  hundreds  of  miles 
away,  to  reach  which,  they  must  climb  mountains,  and 
cross  rivers,  without  bridges  or  boats,  and  then  take  their 
long  and  trackless  way  over  a  country  without  roads, 
and  almost  without  inhabitants.  No  wonder  that  many, 
worn  out  with  the  long  journey,  sink  down  in  despair, 
and  leave  their  bones  in  the  wilderness.  Yet  a  thousand 
failures  will  not  prevent  others  making  the  attempt,  to 
share  the  same  fate. 

But  what  cannot  be  done  now  will  come  in  time. 
The  Yukon  River  is  one  of  the  great  rivers  of  the  world. 
Eighteen  hundred  miles  long,  and  a  mile  wide  six  hun- 
dred miles  from  its  mouth,  it  would  furnish  a  commerce 
like  that  of  the  Amazon,  but  for  the  rigor  of  the  climate, 
which  closes  it  to  navigation  the  greater  part  of  the  year. 
Here  is  the  fatal  drawback  to  the  interior  of  Alaska. 
Though  this  North  American  Amazon  drains  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  square  miles,  it  is  not  possible  to  keep 
upon  it  a  fleet  of  steamers,  so  long  as  it  flows  so  near 
the  Arctic  circle  that  it  is  covered  with  ice  a  large  part 
of  the  year. 

As  we  go  northward  the  days  grow  longer,  till  there 
is  little  of  the  twenty-four  hours  left  for  the  shadows  of 
the  night.  The  bells  have  just  struck  ten  o'clock,  and  I 
am  writing  on  deck  by  daylight  and  might  write  for  an 
hour  longer.  The  sun  has  gone  down,  but  the  heavens 


* 


THE   GLACIERS  107 

are  still  full  of  light ;  there  is  a  glow  on  earth  and  sea 
and  sky,  and,  as  to  follow  the  windings  of  the  archipel- 
ago, we  have  turned  to  the  west,  we  seem  to  be  sailing 
right  into  the  sunset ;  while  on  the  other  quarter,  the 
moon,  half  to  the  full,  hangs  low  over  the  crest  of  a 
mountain — one  of  a  long  line  of  peaks  white  with  snow 
—where  she  keeps  her  head  down  near  to  the  horizon,  as 
if  in  modest  deference  to  the  great  luminary. 

The  day  after  we  left  Juneau,  we  steamed  into  the 
Bay  of  Chilcat,  where  two  inlets  lead  up  into  the  main- 
land, around  which  circle  the  mountains  and  the  forests, 
in  whose  dark  bosoms  are  counted  no  less  than  nineteen 
glaciers  !  But  I  had  eyes  only  for  one,  the  "  Davidson," 
which,  if  I  were  to  distinguish  it  from  other  glaciers, 
I  should  say  was  more  beautiful  than  terrible,  as  it  de- 
scends by  a  gentle  slope  from  the  mountain  height, 
spreading  out  its  fan-like  borders  till  it  is  three  miles 
wide  at  the  shore,  where  it  dips  its  cold  feet  in  the  sea. 
Here  we  reach  our  most  northern  latitude — that  of  fifty- 
nine  degrees,  ten  minutes — from  which  it  would  take  but 
a  few  degrees  farther  to  bring  us  to  the  Land  of  the 
Midnight  Sun. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   MUIK   GLACIER 

THE  excursion  to  Alaska  is  well  arranged  in  its  begin- 
ning and  its  ending.  Thewonderland  unrolls  like  a  pan- 
orama— scene  after  scene  in  a  natural  order — with  a 
gradual  crescendo  till  we  are  among  the  glaciers,  the 
greatest  wonder  of  all.  And  even  here  all  are  not  of 
one  pattern,  or  of  the  same  dimensions,  but  there  is  a 
gradual  climbing  up  higher  and  higher,  till  we  come  face 
to  face  with  the  most  resplendent  vision,  which  has  been 
fitly  reserved  to  the  last. 

We  parted  with  our  readers  at  midnight,  when  we 
were  lingering  on  the  deck  as  in  a  dream.  Hardly  had 
we  gone  below  before  the  Queen  was  in  motion ;  and  in 
the  silence  of  the  night  dropped  down  and  out  of  one  chan- 
nel, and,  rounding  a  point,  entered  another  channel  which 
led  up  to  Glacier  Bay,  where  we  awoke  to  find  ourselves 
at  anchor.  That  dropping  of  the  anchor  was  significant. 
It  meant  that  there  was  something  which  could  not  be 
"passed  in  the  night,"  nor  in  the  daytime  either,  with- 
out a  pause  sufficiently  prolonged  to  give  us  a  steady 
gaze.  "What  it  was  there  could  be  no  mistake,  as  we 
came  up  the  gangway  and  saw  before  us  a  long  cliff, 
like  the  Palisades,  only  that  it  was  white,  which  we 
recognized  instantly  as  the  Muir  Glacier,  the  one  object 
that  we  had  cared  to  look  upon  more  than  any  other  in 


THE   MUIR   GLACIER  109 

Alaska ;  that  we  had  crossed  the  continent  to  see ;  and 
that  now  rose  before  us  in  the  clear  light  of  that  sum- 
mer morning  as  the  crown  and  consummation  of  our 
journey. 

But  great  expectations  sometimes  lead  to  great  dis- 
appointments. Such  is  the  experience  of  many,  perhaps 
of  most,  persons  on  their  first  sight  of  Niagara.  I  take 
Niagara  for  a  comparison,  because  there  is  at  the  first 
glance  a  certain  resemblance  between  the  glacier  and  the 
cataract — a  likeness  in  shape  and  form  and  color,  as  in 
the  elements  of  which  they  are  composed.  Only  in  the 
one  the  waters  are  let  loose,  and  in  the  other  they  are 
held  fast.  The  Muir  Glacier  is  only  a  frozen  Niagara. 
One  must  get  his  eye  accustomed  to  it  before  he  can 
take  it  all  in.  It  is  not  like  any  other  glacier  that  we 
have  seen — as,  for  instance,  the  Davidson  Glacier  that 
we  saw  yesterday,  which  was  a  gentle  creature,  lying 
flat  on  its  face,  as  if  it  were  too  modest  to  hold  up  its 
head,  creeping  and  crawling,  as  it  were,  on  all  fours,  and 
without  a  sound  of  anything  breaking  in  its  passage  to 
the  sea;  while  the  Muir  Glacier  stands  up  boldly,  with 
head  erect  and  open  face,  as  if  it  had  taken  its  position 
that  men,  looking  upon  it,  might  behold  as  in  a  glass  the 
glory  of  the  Lord. 

But  the  first  impression  is  one  of  disappointment ;  it  is 
not  quite  so  grand  as  we  had  expected.  "Well,  let  us 
come  a  little  closer  to  make  a  better  observation.  The 
Queen  has  steamed  up  to  a  position  almost  under  it,  as 
the  little  steamer  at  Niagara  comes  up  so  close  that  it 
sometimes  catches  the  drifting  spray  of  the  waterfall. 
But  it  takes  good  care  not  to  come  within  even  the  outer 
verge  of  the  waterfall  itself,  lest  it  be  sent  away  whirling 
like  a  top,  if  it  do  not  share  the  fate  of  some  hapless  boat 


110  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

that  has  been  caught  in  the  rapids  above,  and  gone  over 
only  to  appear  in  the  broken  fragments  that  emerge  in 
the  whirlpool  below.  So  our  good,  faithful  Queen,  which 
we  have  so  far  not  trusted  in  vain,  takes  good  care  to 
keep  well  beyond  the  danger  line,  lest  a  little  eagerness 
to  see  too  much  should  bring  her  within  the  sweep  of  one 
of  those  icy  columns  that  is  toppling  to  its  fall,  carrying 
the  weight  of  a  hundred  tons,  that  would  break  deck  and 
hull,  and  put  an  end  to  her  proud  career  on  the  sea.  But 
there  is  no  need  of  any  exposure  to  danger.  At  the  dis- 
tance of  two  hundred  yards  we  can  see  distinctly,  and 
look  all  along  the  line  of  the  outer  wall  and  take  our 
measurements. 

"  The  glacier  is  not  so  high  as  we  expected ! "  Indeed ! 
and  what  did  you  expect  ?  That  it  would  tower  into  the 
clouds?  Or  will  you  be  content  to  have  it  as  high  as 
Niagara  ?  Well,  it  is  a  good  deal  higher.  Niagara  is  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high ;  the  Muir  Glacier  is  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet !  But  that  is  not  the  full  measure 
of  its  greatness.  Those  who  have  studied  glaciers  tell  us 
that  one  thus  projected  into  the  sea  has  at  least  twice,  if 
not  three  times,  as  much  of  its  bulk  below  the  surface  as 
above  it.  Our  Captain  Carroll  himself  once  made  sound- 
ings here,  and  found  that  the  glacier  touched  bottom  at 
a  depth  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty  feet !  If,  then, 
some  tidal  wave  should  rush  into  Glacier  Bay,  and  rush 
back  again,  so  as  to  leave  the  bottom  for  an  hour  or  two 
bare  to  the  sun,  those  who  should  look  upon  it  would  be 
face  to  face  with  a  sea-wall  more  than  a  mile  long  and 
nearly  a  thousand  feet  high  ! 

So  far  we  are  observing  from  the  outside.  We  are 
but  lookers-on  in  Yenice.  But  we  need  not  stand  afar  off 
to  make  our  reverence.  Not  only  can  we  enter  the  pres- 


THE   MUIR   GLACIER  111 

ence  of  the  Ice-king,  can  we  confront  him  to  his  face  and 
look  him  in  the  eye  ;  but  we  can  go  ashore  and  come  up 
close  to  his  royal  presence ;  and,  treating  him  as  we  would 
Saint  Nicholas,  may  pinch  his  icy  beard,  and  even  climb 
upon  his  back,  and,  as  conceited  mortals  are  apt  to  do, 
trample  him  under  our  feet.  As  soon  as  breakfast  is  over, 
the  boats  are  brought  to  the  ship's  side,  and  gay  parties, 
full  of  excitement,  put  off  for  the  shore.  Landing  on  a 
sandy  beach,  it  seemed  ridiculous  to  come  upon  a  man 
playing  the  part  of  a  Swiss  guide  in  offering  us  alpen- 
stocks !  Of  what  use  could  they  be  to  us  gay  revellers, 
who  were  but  taking  a  morning  promenade  on  a  plank 
walk  ?  Before  we  got  back,  however,  we  found  some- 
thing besides  the  plank  walk,  and  were  glad  enough  to 
steady  ourselves  by  striking  the  sharp  iron  into  the  glit- 
tering but  treacherous  ice  which  is  seamed  with  crevasses, 
that  are  so  many  pitfalls  under  our  feet.  But  first  we 
took  the  glacier,  as  we  would  take  a  fortress,  in  flank, 
walking  over  the  broken  ground,  gradually  approaching 
nearer  and  nearer,  till,  after  perhaps  a  mile,  we  came 
alongside  the  huge  creature,  and  stepped  bravely  upon 
his  back.  He  did  not  resent  the  indignity,  but  seemed 
to  tell  us  to  make  ourselves  at  home,  an  invitation  which, 
as  in  some  other  cases,  it  is  prudent  to  take  with  limita- 
tions. But  at  first  we  were  quite  as  much  at  ease  as  if 
we  were  enjoying  a  winter  scene  in  New  England.  Be- 
fore us  was  a  boundless  snow-field,  where  the  winds  had 
been  at  play,  tossing  up  the  snow  into  a  thousand  fantas- 
tic shapes.  Ice  is  a  trifle  harder  than  snow,  but  in  its 
formation  it  lends  itself  to  every  wild  fancy  of  the  waters 
or  the  winds.  As  long  as  we  had  a  clear  field  before  us, 
we  trudged  away  with  not  a  thought  of  danger.  But 
presently  the  surface  grew  more  uneven.  Wherever  the 


112  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

wind  had  swept  over  the  glacier  as  the  rain  or  the  snow 
fell,  it  blew  them  hither  and  thither,  forming  hillocks, 
from  which  the  elements  smoothed  off  any  projecting 
points,  so  that  the  whole  ice-field  was  in  hummocks, 
which,  while  they  were  so  rounded  as  to  answer  to  all 
the  lines  of  beauty,  had  a  cold,  glassy,  unsympathetic 
look  that  lured  us  on,  but  gave  no  promise  of  safety.  A 
vague  impression  began  to  creep  over  me  that  walking 
on  a  glacier  was  not  quite  like  walking  in  Broadway. 
The  impression  was  not  altogether  alluring,  and,  in  spite 
of  all  our  bravery  of  an  hour  before,  when  we  set  out  on 
our  promenade,  I  began  to  feel  that  I  might  as  well  step 
gingerly  over  the  bald  head  of  this  Ancient  of  Days,  who 
might,  if  we  should  take  too  great  liberties,  put  us  out  of 
sight  in  one  of  the  crevasses  that  yawned  beneath  us  like 
so  many  icy  sepulchres,  and  was  not  a  little  relieved 
when  I  could  bow  myself  out  of  his  venerable  pres- 
ence.* 

Once  clear  of  the  ice,  we  strode  on  with  a  feeling  of 
safety,  though  the  moraine  which  borders  the  glacier  is 
covered  with  the  debris  of  rock,  which  makes  it  anything 
but  easy  walking,  especiallj7  as  we  left  what  is  called  by 
courtesy  the  path,  and  struck  off  to  the  right,  clamber- 
ing over  stones  and  almost  sliding  down  the  soft  places, 
that  we  might  land  somewhere  nearer  to  the  foot  of  the 
glacier,  which  is  such  a  giant  mass  that  it  not  only  cuts  a 
deep  gorge  into  the  sea,  but  spreads  out  broad  wings  on 
either  side,  so  that  we  could  walk  for  some  distance  right 
in  front  of  these  icy  cliffs  as  if  we  were  on  the  sands 

*  It  seemed  to  me  then,  and  seems  to  me  now,  a  great  risk  to  let 
these  parties  go  in  such  numbers  without  being  attended,  as  in 
Switzerland,  by  guides,  strong,  sure-footed,  of  cool  head,  with 
alpenstocks  and  ropes  in  case  of  extreme  danger. 


THE   MUIR  GLACIER  113 

under  the  cliffs  of  Dover !  And  now  look  up !  How 
high  those  pinnacles  tower  above  us !  It  would  take  a 
cooler  head  than  mine  to  stand,  even  for  a  moment,  on 
that  giddy  height,  and  look  down  at  the  depth  below. 

And  underneath,  what  caverns  there  are  cut  out  by 
the  waters  rushing  through  them,  leaving  above  a  vault 
of  clear  blue  ice,  so  cold  and  pitiless !  And  the  river 
itself,  which  comes  forth  out  of  the  darkness,  and  rushes 
so  madly  over  the  sands  in  its  haste  to  plunge  into  the 
sea,  will  not  this  very  fury  exhaust  itself  ?  How  long 
will  the  glacier  keep  it  going?  "Will  not  a  few  hot 
summers  melt  this  mountain  of  ice  and  snow,  so  that  the 
river  will  leave  only  an  empty  bed  ? 

So  small  is  our  range  of  vision,  that  we  should  limit 
the  forces  of  nature,  or  the  time  which  it  may  command 
to  do  its  work  !  The  fountains  that  feed  this  river  are 
not  all  shut  within  the  circuit  of  these  hills.  The  glacier 
has  a  hundred  arms  that  reach  far  up  into  the  mountains, 
down  which  the  waters  flow.  Fed  from  such  sources, 
the  stream  that  rushes  so  fiercely  from  the  foot  of  the 
glacier  began  its  race  hundreds  of  years  before  we  were 
born,  and  will  continue  to  run  hundreds  of  years  after 
we  are  in  our  graves  ! 

I  came  back  to  the  ship  with  a  great  respect  for  the 
Muir  Glacier  as  not  all  a  dream,  but  a  substantial  reality, 
which  had  a  right  to  be  in  this  world,  and  was  not  to 
be  approached  lightly  or  unadvisedly.  In  spite  of  the 
disappointment  of  the  first  impression,  it  now  rose  to  the 
height  of  my  expectations.  Indeed,  it  surpassed  them ; 
in  the  mere  matter  of  dimensions  it  was  larger  every 
way,  longer  and  broader,  higher  and  deeper.  Nor  was 
it  lifeless  and  motionless,  lying  prone  upon  the  earth,  an 
inert  mass,  imbedded  in  a  hollow  of  the  mountains ;  it 
9 


114  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

was  a  body  in  motion,  as  if  it  were  a  chariot  on  wheels, 
never  resting,  never  ceasing  in  its  march,  with  its  cold 
eye  fixed  like  the  eye  of  death,  pushing  on  day  and 
night,  crushing  everything  in  its  path,  as  if  its  mission 
on  earth  were  simply  to  destroy. 

And  here  we  are  face  to  face  with  this  grim  destroyer. 
Have  we  any  way  to  stop  him  in  his  course  ?  Has  he 
not  given  us  proof  already  of  his  power  to  bear  down  all 
resistance  ?  The  glacier  is  at  once  the  remnant  and  the 
reminder  of  the  Ice  Age  of  prehistoric  times,  when 
great  seas  were  frozen  into  solid  ice,  that  swept  over 
continents,  carrying  away  whole  mountain  tops,  and 
transporting  enormous  boulders  hundreds  of  miles,  to  be 
imbedded  in  plains  and  valleys,  there  to  remain  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  the  monuments  of  its  tremendous 
power. 

This  we  look  upon  as  the  work  of  the  past.  But  have 
we  considered  that  the  ice  and  the  snow  still  keep 
dominion  over  a  considerable  part  of  the  habitable  globe  ? 
The  very  name  of  the  Himalayas — that  great  mountain 
mass  that  rises  up  in  the  heart  of  Asia — signifies  the 
Abode  of  Snow,  an  abode  from  which  it  cannot  be  dis- 
lodged by  all  the  power  of  man,  nor  even  by  the  forces 
of  nature  itself.  The  fiery  sun  of  India,  that  blasts  the 
plains  watered  by  the  Ganges,  cannot  make  the  smallest 
impression  on  those  awful  heights  and  depths  that  have 
been  accumulating  from  century  to  century  on  that 
"  roof  of  the  world."  There  they  remain,  as  enduring 
as  the  mountains  themselves,  perhaps  to  be  dissolved  at 
last  only  by  the  final  conflagration,  in  which  the  elements 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat. 

Even  in  these  milder  exhibitions  that  we  have  on  our 
northwestern  coast,  those  who  watch  the  growth  of 


THE   MUIR  GLACIER  115 

glaciers,  and  their  steady  march,  are  in  doubt  which  of 
the  two  elements  of  nature  is  the  more  destructive,  frost 
or  fire.  Of  course,  the  latter  is  the  more  demonstrative 
when  it  flames  out  in  the  volcano,  or  the  earthquake  tears 
the  globe  asunder.  But  the  snow  falls  silently,  and  the 
snow-field  lies  low.  But  while  these  feathery  particles 
fall  lightly  they  fall  unceasingly,  and  the  snow-bank 
keeps  growing,  growing,  growing,  with  every  storm 
that  sweeps  through  the  air,  and  every  rain  that  freezes 
as  it  falls,  till  the  mighty  accumulation  presses  upon  the 
earth  with  the  weight  of  mountains,  though  not,  like 
them,  "  standing  fast,"  but  ever  in  motion,  day  and 
night,  summer  and  winter,  pushing  on  its  terrible  way. 
Such  is  the  power  in  yonder  cliff  that  presents  its  cold, 
icy  front,  pitiless  as  death,  to  the  human  creatures  that 
stand  off  at  a  respectful  distance. 

It  was  a  moment  of  intense  excitement  when  some 
peak  was  seen  to  waver.  At  first  its  base  seemed  to 
be  crushed  and  crumbled,  and  came  down  like  a  snow- 
slide,  and  then  there  was  a  flash  of  something  bright,  as 
the  ice  caught  the  rays  of  the  sun,  followed  by  a  muffled 
sound,  and  a  mass  of  foam  and  spray  thrown  into  the 
air.  The  larger  bergs  were  broken  as  they  struck  the 
water,  and  the  wreck  was  scattered  far  and  wide.  Many 
pieces  were  floating  round  the  ship,  while  others  were 
stranded  on  the  beach,  till  the  rising  tide  should  sweep 
them  away.  As  the  glacier  advances  at  the  rate  of  five 
feet  a  day,  it  pushes  forward  hundreds  of  tons  every 
twenty -four  hours  to  a  point  where  many  a  ledge  hangs 
over  the  sea,  and  many  a  pinnacle,  high  in  air,  topples 
over  and  falls  with  a  crash — a  dull,  heavy  plunge.  As 
the  falls  come  every  few  minutes,  the  explosions  follow 
one  another  at  intervals,  like  the  booming  of  guns.  This 


116  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

did  not  quite  satisfy  all  on  board,  who  were  looking  for  a 
sort  of  broadside  from  the  glacier  battery.  I  suppose  we 
might  have  "drawn  its  fire"  by  firing  ourselves.  Many 
years  ago  I  crossed  the  Wengern  Alp,  that  stands  over 
against  the  Jungfrau,  from  which  they  watch  for  the 
avalanches,  and  found  that  they  had  a  way  of  bringing 
one  down  by  firing  a  cannon,  the  concussion  of  which 
started  a  mass  of  snow  from  the  top  of  the  mountain,  that 
"  swung  IOAV  with  sullen  roar "  as  it  fell  into  the  gorge 
below.  In  this  way  we  might  have  startled  an  iceberg, 
or  possibly  two  or  three.  But  this  might  have  given  us 
too  much  of  a  good  thing,  for  it  is  not  always  quite  safe 
to  have  icebergs  about  a  ship,  as  they  may  knock  a  hole 
in  her  bottom.  For  my  part,  I  do  not  care  so  much  for 
explosions  as  for  the  solemn  beauty  of  this  wondrous 
vision.  How  those  icy  pinnacles  must  glow  in  the  light 
of  sunset,  when  the  white  walls,  rising  up  against  the 
sky,  shine  like  the  heavenly  battlements! 

To  see  the  Muir  Glacier  is  an  event  in  one's  life,  like 
seeing  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  or  the  Taj  in  India.  It  is  a 
sight  which  does  not  fade  in  the  distance.  Go  where  he 
may,  still  is  he 

"  By  the  vision  splendid 
On  his  way  attended," 

till  his  eyes  close  on  all  things  earthly,  and  open  on  the 
purer  light  of  heaven. 


CHAPTEK  XII 

NATURE  AND  MAN  FARTHER  NORTH 

THE  Muir  Glacier  is  the  culmination  of  the  journey  to 
Alaska.  But  when  we  have  seen  it  we  have  not  seen 
the  whole  of  this  wonderland.  We  have  merely  passed 
through  the  Thousand  Islands  that  form  what  is  called 
the  Alexander  Archipelago.  But  outside  of  all  this  is 
another  Alaska,  which  we  leave  behind  us,  not  without 
sore  regrets ;  and  as  we  sail  away  we'keep  looking  back 
towards  that  which  would  have  made  complete  the  most 
delightful  summer  excursion  in  the  world. 

If  I  could  revise  the  excursion  to  Alaska,  I  would  ex- 
tend it  at  least  two  or  three  days.  If,  instead  of  turning 
abruptly  on  our  course,  we  could  pass  out  through  one 
of  the  channels  between  the  islands  into  the  open  sea, 
and  take  another  day's  sail  to  the  north,  we  should 
come  upon  a  coast-line  far  bolder  than  we  have  yet 
looked  upon,  inasmuch  as  it  has  no  foreground  of  islands 
to  divert  the  eye  from  the  majestic  background  of  moun- 
tains. If  in  some  prehistoric  age  there  were  islands  here, 
they  have  sunk  into  the  sea,  and  the  mountains  them- 
selves have  come  to  the  front,  where  they  not  only  touch 
the  clouds  with  their  summits,  but  plant  their  foundations 
in  the  mighty  waters.  We  can  see  them  afar  off.  Even 
a  hundred  miles  away  we  catch  the  first  sight  of  the 
Mont  Blanc  of  the  Pacific,  a  far  grander  object  than 


118  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

the  Mont  Blanc  to  which  we  look  up  from  the  Yale  of 
Charaouni.  That  is  less  than  sixteen  thousand  feet  high, 
while  our  American  Mont  Blanc,  fitly  named  Saint  Elias 
from  the  white-haired  Hebrew  prophet,  soars  more  than 
half  a  mile  nearer  to  the  sky. 

Nor  is  it  mere  altitude  that  gives  it  such  majesty ;  it 
has  a  more  resplendent  "  diadem  of  snow."  Mont  Blanc 
has  been  often  ascended.  Good  mountain  climbers, 
attended  by  guides,  make  the  ascent  every  summer ;  but 
the  head  of  Saint  Elias,  I  believe,  has  never  yet  been 
profaned  by  a  human  foot !  Only  last  summer  a  party 
set  out  to  attempt  what  had  not  been  done  before,  but 
a  member  of  it  told  me  that  they  camped  at  its  base  two 
months,  and  made  innumerable  attempts  without  success, 
from  the  fact  that  such  masses  of  snow  rested,  not  only 
on  its  "  bald,  awful  head,"  but  far  down  its  sides,  for  the 
snow  line  is  thousands  of  feet  nearer  to  the  earth  than 
the  snow  line  of  Mont  Blanc.  Thus  the  greatest  of  the 
mountains  on  this  western  coast  is  married  to  the  great- 
est of  the  oceans,  a  combination  of  mountain  and  sea 
that  gives  a  superiority  to  the  scenery  of  Alaska  over 
that  of  Switzerland  itself,  since  Alaska  has  its  Alps 
which  overtop  Mont  Blanc  and  the  Matterhorn,  with  the 
Pacific  Ocean  thrown  in  ! 

Nor  does  Mount  Elias  stand  alone  in  solitary  great- 
ness. The  whole  coast-line  of  Northern  Alaska  has  a 
boldness  such  as  can  be  seen  nowhere  else  except  in  the 
Andes  of  South  America. 

Nor  is  it  mountains  only,  nor  even  mountain  and  seas 
together,  that  give  such  a  fascination  to  Northern  Alaska. 
As  one  goes  farther  north  he  comes  into  the  Arctic  circle, 
where,  for  a  few  weeks  in  midsummer,  the  sun  does  not 
go  down,  and  there  is  no  night !  True,  in  midwinter 


NATURE  AND  MAN  FARTHER  NORTH       119 

all  this  is  reversed,  and  there  is  no  day.  But  even 
the  darkened  hemisphere  has  its  attractions  for  the  scien- 
tific observer.  General  Greely  spent  two  winters  making 
observations  for  the  Government,  so  far  north  that  for 
four  and  a  half  months  he  did  not  see  the  sun.  But  when 
the  night  was  longest  and  darkest,  the  stars  shone  as 
nowhere  else,  while  the  auroras  streamed  up  the  heavens, 
and  lighted  up  the  Arctic  night  with  ineffable  splendors. 

Added  to  all  this,  there  is  a  human  interest  in  these 
Arctic  regions.  Cold  and  desolate  as  they  are,  they  are 
not  uninhabited,  and  philosophers  who  tell  us  that  the 
proper  study  of  mankind  is  man  may  feel  a  scientific 
curiosity  in  inspecting  this  division  of  the  race.  It  is  a 
new  variety  of  the  human  species,  which  may  at  least 
serve  as  a  study  in  anthropology. 

It  must  be  confessed,  to  judge  from  the  specimens  pre- 
sented to  us,  that  they  are  not  attractive,  as  they  seem 
to  be  stunted  in  their  growth — squat  in  figure,  short- 
bodied,  short-legged,  and  low-browed,  and  at  the  first 
look  present  no  signs  of  physical  or  mental  activity. 
Yet  those  who  have  lived  among  them  say  that  they  are 
not  wanting  in  natural  intelligence,  and  that  if  you  look 
sharply  into  the  little  round  holes  in  their  fur  caps  you 
may  see  a  light  in  their  eyes,  which  shows  that  there  is 
something  in  the  brain  behind  it,  possibly  in  the  heart 
also,  to  whomsoever  has  the  skill  to  penetrate  this  out- 
ward enclosure. 

We  judge  of  races  a  good  deal  from  the  way  that 
they  live,  and  cannot  expect  much  from  a  people  that  live 
underground — that  burrow  in  the  earth.  This  is  from  a 
double  necessity,  as  they  have  no  wood  to  build  houses, 
except  the  driftwood  thrown  upon  their  shores ;  and  if 
they  had,  no  boards  or  timbers  could  keep  out  the  biting 


120  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

frost,  and  they  must  take  refuge  in  the  earth  to  keep 
themselves  alive.  Remembering  this,  you  must  not 
expect  to  see  a  New  England  village  in  the  Arctic  circle. 
If  you  were  to  approach  one  of  their  little  settlements, 
you  would  hardly  see  any  sign  of  habitation,  or  receive 
any  salute  except  from  the  barking  of  a  dog.  The  Esqui- 
maux dogs,  which  have  in  them  a  mixture  of  wolfish 
blood,  are  rather  of  the  snapping-turtle  order.  Indeed, 
what  may  be  called  a  village  has  hardly  as  much  visible 
presence  as  a  cluster  of  Indian  wigwams.  The  only 
signs  that  appear  above  ground  might  be  a  row  of  scare- 
crows, or  corn-cribs,  in  which  to  stow  away  what  we 
should  put  in  a  cellar.  The  explanation  is,  that  in  the 
Esquimaux  architecture  the  house  is  turned  upside  down, 
so  that  the  cellars  are  raised  in  the  air,  while  the  people 
live  underground,  as  the  only  place  where  they  can  lie 
down  and  keep  from  perishing  with  cold.  The  place  is  so 
silent  that  you  think  the  people  all  dead,  but  if  you  will 
but  come  to  where  they  are,  you  will  find  that  they  are 
not  only  alive,  but  very  much  alive.  If  you  have  the  cour- 
age to  let  yourself  down  into  a  hole  like  a  well,  and  then 
get  down  on  all  fours  and  crawl  along  an  underground 
passage,  you  may  come  to  a  place  where  you  can  stand 
upright,  and,  when  you  get  your  eye  accustomed  to  the 
darkness,  see  a  few  figures  standing  or  sitting  on  the 
ground.  There  is  no  light  except  that  which  comes 
faintly  through  an  aperture  at  the  top,  over  which  is 
stretched  a  piece  of  skin  like  a  drum-head,  through  which 
a  feeble  ray  trickles  down  into  the  cavern.  The  natives 
also,  by  dipping  a  bunch  of  dried  moss  in  oil,  make  a 
rude  lamp,  which  casts  a  faint  light  round  a  little  circle. 
This  is  the  Esquimaux  home !  In  this  underground 
cellar  may  be  twenty  people — young  and  old,  boys  and 


NATURE   AND   MAN   FARTHER  NORTH  121 

girls,  babies  and  grannies — all  crowded  together  in  one 
mass  of  humanity ! 

It  is  a  dreary  picture,  and  yet  here  in  this  subterra- 
nean abode  life  goes  on,  and  is  not  without  its  pleasures. 
One  who  has  been  often  entertained  there  tells  me  that 
he  has  never  seen  a  happier  people.  They  are  like  chil- 
dren, and  have  the  enjoyment  of  children,  always  laugh- 
ing and  making  merry.  They  are  very  fond  of  practical 
jokes,  which  they  play  upon  one  another,  and  then  burst 
into  peals  of  laughter. 

And  they  are  kindly  in  their  dispositions,  and  given  to 
hospitality.  If  you  are  their  guest  they  will  set  before 
you  the  best  they  have.  "  If  you  doubt  it,"  said  my 
informant,  "come  with  me  in  a  voyage  to  the  Arctic 
regions,  and  I  will  take  you  to  an  Esquimaux  home, 
where,  if  they  cannot  prepare  you  a  meal  after  your 
Eastern  style,  they  will  give  you  a  repast  such  as  you 
never  had  before.  Of  course,  it  will  not  be  cooked,  for 
in  most  of  the  little  settlements  they  rarely  cook  any- 
thing ;  they  have  not  a  stick  of  wood  to  make  a  fire  to 
boil  a  pot,  or  roast  a  steak.  But  if  you  accept  their  hospi- 
tality, you  must  eat  what  is  set  before  you,  asking  no 
questions  for  conscience  sake.  If  you  shrink  from  taking 
your  food  raw,  as  being  a  little  too  much  in  the  state  in 
which  wild  beasts  take  their  food,  tearing  it  to  pieces 
and  sucking  the  blood  that  flows  from  it,  you  may  be 
partly  relieved  by  the  fact  that  'blubber' — which  is 
their  staple  of  food — does  not  stream  with  blood  ;  and 
that  it  has  been  frozen,  which  has,  in  a  slight  degree,  the 
effect  of  cooking  to  disintegrate  the  fibre ;  and  they 
will  give  you  the  best  piece  of  blubber  they  have !  But 
still,  after  all,  it  is  rather  fresh,  and  I  dare  say  you  will 
make  a  wry  face  over  it ;  but  never  mind,  down  with  it, 


122  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

and  if  it  sticks  in  your  throat,  wash  it  down  with  some- 
thing better  than  flowing  goblets  of  German  beer,  viz.: 
pints — or  quarts — of  train  oil ! !  " 

This  was  an  attractive  bill  of  fare,  to  which  I  could  only 
reply  that  I  would  take  it  into  respectful  consideration. 

But  there  is  a  tragical  side  to  all  this,  in  the  fact  that 
with  the  limited  supplies  of  food  the  natives  are  at  times 
in  danger  of  dying  by  starvation !  In  the  Arctic  circle 
the  earth  yields  no  food  for  the  service  of  man ;  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  agriculture ;  they  can  neither  sow  nor 
reap  nor  gather  into  barns;  all  their  subsistence  must 
come  from  the  sea.  They  live  almost  wholly  on  the 
blubber  of  the  whale  and  the  walrus,  which  not  long  since 
were  being  rapidly  exterminated.  The  whale  fishery 
was  not  pursued  for  the  oil,  which  had  been  almost 
driven  out  of  the  market  by  petroleum.  But  there  was 
one  thing  that  petroleum  did  not  supply — whalebone! 
This  would  seem  to  be  of  small  value,  but  we  are  told 
that  the  bone  taken  from  the  mouth  of  a  good-sized 
whale  sells  for  eight  or  ten  thousand  dollars — sometimes 
for  much  more !  That  secured,  the  carcass  is  left  to  its 
fate,  what  remains  of  it,  which  may  not  be  much,  since 
it  is  not  as  in  the  days  when  the  whale  was  pursued  in  a 
small  boat  and  speared  with  a  harpoon ;  whereas  now  he 
can  be  shot  from  a  howitzer  on  a  ship's  deck,  that  sends 
a  bomb  into  his  body,  where  it  explodes  and  tears  him  to 
pieces,  when  the  fragments  of  his  huge  bulk  float  away, 
to  be  seized  by  all  the  devourers  of  the  sea. 

Neither  is  it  necessary  to  spear  the  walrus  (which  is 
hunted  for  its  ivory) ;  it  is  shot  from  a  ship's  deck  with 
a  repeating  rifle  that  can  dispose  of  a  whole  herd  in  a 
few  minutes,  when  the  tusks  are  torn  from  the  bodies, 
which  are  left  to  drift  away  upon  the  waves.  Thus  the 


NATURE  AND  MAN  FARTHER  NORTH  123 

sea  hunt  becomes  a  war  of  extermination  of  this  mighty 
game,  which  may  be  a  happy  despatch  for  the  hunt- 
ers, but  is  death  to  those  from  whom  this  ruthless 
slaughter  takes  away  the  means  of  subsistence.  Such 
was  the  condition  of  the  Esquimaux  in  the  summer 
of  1890. 

Where  was  relief  to  come  from  ?  Not  from  the  whal- 
ers, who  were  carrying  on  a  war  of  extermination  of  the 
whale  and  the  walrus,  their  only  means  of  subsistence. 
Civilization  did  nothing  for  them.  It  only  robbed  them 
of  their  food  and  left  them  to  starve.  And,  as  if  that 
were  not  enough,  it  sometimes  hastened  their  extermina- 
tion by  introducing  among  them  the  thirst  for  fiery 
drinks  and  other  vices  of  civilization.  There  were  rov- 
ers of  the  sea,  who  were  little  better  than  pirates  in 
keeping  up  a  secret  and  contraband  trade  in  ardent 
spirits,  in  which  they  debauched  the  natives  and  robbed 
them  of  their  furs — the  only  thing  they  had  to  sell — in 
exchange  for  rum,  which  destroyed  both  body  and  soul. 
The  result  was  sometimes  one  of  indescribable  horror. 
One  summer  a  revenue  cutter  sailing  north  touched  at 
the  lower  end  of  St.  Lawrence  Island,  and  the  sailors 
went  on  shore  to  revisit  a  group  of  villages  which  they 
had  left  the  year  before  with  six  hundred  inhabitants. 
But  as  they  approached  the  spot  they  were  appalled  at 
the  mysterious  silence.  They  came  to  the  little  huts  and 
passages  to  the  underground  habitations  in  which  the 
people  had  burrowed,  but  not  a  sign  of  life  appeared. 
As  they  pushed  their  way  into  the  dark  interiors  they 
found  the  late  inhabitants  silent  in  death.  As  the  Arctic 
cold  had  preserved  the  bodies  from  decay,  the  forms  were 
still  there,  stretched  upon  the  cold  earth,  or  doubled  up 
in  some  shape  that  showed  how  they  had  writhed  in 


124  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

agony.  The  glassy  eyes  were  "  all  wide,"  as  if  they 
glared  at  the  intruders  upon  the  place  of  the  dead. 
Mouths  were  open,  as  if  hungry  for  the  food  which  did 
not  come,  and  hands  clenched  as  if  grasping  for  some 
last  hope  before  they  were  frozen  in  death.  It  was  an 
Arctic  Pompeii,  where  gaunt  hunger  had  done  what  the 
ashes  of  Vesuvius  had  done  in  another  age  and  another 
part  of  the  world. 

Of  course,  there  was  a  possibility  of  accounting  for 
this  universal  destruction  by  the  breaking  out  of  some 
pestilence,  which  in  their  ignorance  they  did  not  know 
how  to  combat.  But  the  more  probable  explanation 
seemed  to  be  that  some  piratical  schooner — low  built 
and  painted  black,  as  became  its  horrible  errand — had 
stolen  into  this  harbor,  and  smuggled  in  a  cargo  of  rum, 
which  was  left  behind  to  do  its  fatal  work. 

After  such  a  horrid  sight,  it  were  vain  to  expect  the 
preservation  of  the  Esquimaux  from  what  some  call  the 
"  natural  laws  of  trade."  Their  rescue,  if  it  came  at  all, 
must  come  from  another  source.  What  could  not,  or 
would  not,  be  done  by  whalers  and  walrus  hunters,  or 
other  traders  to  the  Arctic  regions,  was  done  by  a  simple- 
hearted  American  missionary.  For  some  years  Sheldon 
Jackson  has  been  the  agent  of  the  Government,  as  well 
as  of  the  Missionary  Board,  to  visit  the  stations  in  the  far 
north  to  look  after  the  schools,  and  in  1890  he  visited,  for 
the  first  time,  Arctic  Alaska  in  the  Bear,  which  had  just 
come  from  the  coast  of  Siberia,  on  which  an  American  ship 
had  been  wrecked  several  years  before,  and  the  natives 
had  shown  a  kindness  to  the  only  survivor  that  the 
Government  wished  to  acknowledge  by  the  sending  of 
presents  that  the  Bear  was  to  deliver.  Here  they  found 
a  people  very  much  like  those  on  the  American  coast ; 


NATURE   AND   MAN   FARTHER  NORTH  125 

with  only  this  difference,  that  the  Siberian  Esquimaux 
were  living  in  a  land  of  plenty,  where  they  were  well  fed 
and,  of  course,  were  hale  and  hearty,  fat  and  flourishing. 

What  made  the  difference  ?  It  was  all  explained  in 
one  word — the  reindeer,  which  supplied  the  Siberian 
Esquimaux  with  four  distinct  necessaries  of  Arctic  life : 
food,  as  the  flesh  is  equal  to  the  choicest  venison  from 
the  deer  of  our  plains  and  forests ;  milk,  which  is 
rich  as  cream ;  clothing,  as  the  fur  of  the  reindeer  is 
more  impenetrable  by  cold  than  the  much  heavier  bear- 
skins ;  and  last  of  all,  transportation,  for  which  the  rein- 
deer are  better  than  horses  (if  horses  could  live  in  this 
Arctic  cold,  as  they  cannot),  for  a  team  of  reindeer, 
harnessed  to  a  light  sledge,  will  easily  make  a  hundred 
miles  a  day  over  the  untrodden  snow. 

Besides,  they  take  care  of  themselves ;  they  have 
neither  to  be  housed,  nor  blanketed,  nor  fed.  If  you 
build  a  shed  for  them,  they  will  not  go  under  it,  prefer- 
ring life  in  the  open  air.  They  even  drop  their  young 
upon  the  snow  when  the  temperature  is  thirty  degrees 
below  zero.  They  need  neither  barns  nor  haystacks.  For 
food  they  have  but  to  strike  their  sharp-pointed  hoofs  into 
the  crusted  snow,  and  underneath  they  find  in  the  hidden 
mosses  and  grasses  an  abundance  of  succulent  and  nourish- 
ing food.  Was  not  this  a  beneficent  provision  of  nature, 
or  rather  of  the  Father  of  all  men,  for  the  preservation 
of  life  in  those  who  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  ? 

But  the  reindeer  were  in  Siberia,  and  it  was  on  this 
side  of  the  Pacific  that  they  were  needed.  It  was  too 
late  that  season  to  recross  the  sea.  But  as  soon  as  the 
Bear  had  returned  to  San  Francisco,  and  Sheldon  Jack- 
son could  cross  the  continent,  he  told  the  pitiful  story 


126  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

of  the  starving  Esquimaux.  But,  pitiful  as  it  was,  it  did 
not  at  first  make  much  impression.  It  seemed  a  vision- 
ary project  to  transport  a  herd  of  reindeer  from  Asia  to 
America.  And,  after  all,  the  Esquimaux  were  so  far 
away — a  plea  which  is  often  used  to  quiet  our  troubled 
consciences. 

But  in  spite  of  all  this  indifference,  our  brave  mission- 
ary kept  pegging  away,  and  the  next  season  returned 
to  Siberia  with  a  few  hundred  dollars,  with  which  he 
purchased  sixteen  reindeer — eight  pairs — that  were  trans- 
ported in  the  Bear  safely  to  America.  It  was  a  small 
beginning,  but  it  was  enough  to  prove  the  success  of  the 
experiment.  The  beautiful  creatures  needed  not  to  be 
acclimated,  but  soon  made  themselves  as  much  at  home 
in  America  as  they  had  been  in  Asia.  This  encouraged 
him  to  ask  of  friends  at  the  East  the  means  to  carry  out 
the  experiment  on  a  larger  scale.  The  late  Mr.  Elliott 
F.  Shepard  contributed  generously,  as  he  did  to  so 
many  other  good  causes,  as  the  result  of  all  which  there 
are  now  about  seven  hundred  reindeer,  with  the  pros- 
pect that  the  herds  will  increase  from  year  to  year,  so 
that  in  time  the  reindeer  will  spread  over  all  Northern 
Alaska,  and  thus  the  first  of  all  problems — that  of  how 
to  be  able  to  exist — will  be  solved. 

So  far,  so  good ;  and  yet  I  heard  it  with  a  mixed  feel- 
ing, for  I  had  already  solved  the  problem  in  a  shorter 
way.  No  one  is  so  wise  as  he  who  cannot  speak  from 
personal  observation  and  experience,  and  I  said  to  my- 
self :  "  Wherefore  is  all  this  waste  ?  What  is  the  use  of 
stocking  the  Arctic  regions  with  reindeer  to  keep  the 
miserable  natives  alive,  when  it  would  be  much  cheaper 
to  bring  them  all  away  ?  There  are  but  about  five  thou- 
sand of  them  all  told,  who  could  be  stowed  in  half  a 


NATUKE  AND  MAN  FARTHER  NORTH       127 

dozen  emigrant  ships  and  brought  to  a  land  fit  for 
human  beings  to  live  in.  It  could  all  be  done  in  a  single 
summer.  It  would  be  a  holiday  business.  How  much 
better  this  than  to  have  to  bother  our  heads  every  year 
with  some  scheme  to  keep  the  Esquimaux  from  starving !  " 
When  I  had  exploded  all  this  wisdom  upon  Sheldon 
Jackson,  he  took  me  down  in  the  gentlest  way.  He  did 
not  tell  me  that  my  pity  was  thrown  away.  Far  from 
it,  but  he  threw  some  brighter  colors  into  the  darkness 
of  Esquimaux  life,  so  that  the  picture  was  not  one  of 
unmixed  gloom.  As  to  transporting  them  to  a  more 
temperate  climate,  I  learned  that  the  idea  was  not  origi- 
nal with  me,  but  had  occurred  to  many  observers,  all  of 
whom  had  seemed  to  overlook  the  fact  that  it  takes  two 
to  make  a  bargain.  "  Suppose,"  he  said,  "  that  you  had 
your  ships  all  ready,  but  that  when  the  time  came  for 
the  natives  to  embark  they  would  not  go !  Strange  as  it 
may  seem  to  you,  they  think  they  have  the  most  beauti- 
ful country  in  the  world.  With  all  its  bleakness  and 
desolation,  they  love  it  as  the  Swiss  love  their  moun- 
tains. Now  and  then  one  or  two  Esquimaux  are 
brought  to  the  United  States,  but  how  downcast  and 
miserable  they  look !  Our  climate  is  intolerable  to 
them.  They  pant  in  the  heat  like  polar  bears,  and 
long  to  get  back  to  their  more  '  temperate '  zone !  One 
who  came  here  some  years  since  was  stricken  with  con- 
sumption, and  set  out  to  return,  and  every  morning  his 
first  question  was,  '  Have  you  seen  ice  ? '  If  he  could 
only  get  a  glimpse  of  an  iceberg,  he  could  die  in  peace. 
A  people  who  have  such  a  home  feeling  are  entitled  to 
respect,  and  we  shall  not  quarrel  with  them  if  they  prefer 
their  freedom  in  the  land  of  ice  and  snow  to  our  fine  cities, 
with  all  the  blessings — and  the  curses — of  civilization." 


128  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

I  am  not  so  bold  as  to  say  that  in  the  diet  of  the  Esqui- 
maux, venison  will  ever  take  the  place  of  their  favorite 
blubber.  Nor  is  the  latter  by  any  means  to  be  despised. 
Soberly,  gentlemen  explorers  of  the  Arctic  circle,  do 
not  turn  up  your  noses  at  the  food  of  the  Esquimaux. 
If  you  set  out  for  the  North  Pole,  before  you  get 
there  you  will  find  that  this  blubber,  which  sticks 
in  your  throats,  is  not  only  all  you  can  get,  but  the 
only  food  by  which  you  can  exist.  The  huge  mass 
of  blubber  and  train  oil  that  the  Esquimaux  takes  into 
his  capacious  stomach  is  so  much  phosphorus  that  gen- 
erates intense  heat ;  it  is  a  fire  in  his  bones,  that,  with 
the  reindeer  garments  that  incase  him,  fit  him  to  bear 
the  intensest  cold  of  the  Polar  regions. 

Let  him  keep  his  blubber,  and  may  his  mouth  never 
water  for  the  want  of  it !  "With  this,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  the  reindeer,  the  Esquimaux  are  not  likely  to 
become  extinct  from' famine.  And  I  am  proud  that  this 
deliverance  from  an  imminent  danger  was  due,  not  to  any 
civilizer  or  reformer,  nor  even  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, but  to  the  sagacity  and  humanity  of  a  brave 
and  true-hearted  missionary. 

"With  such  protection  against  the  rigid  climate,  it  is  not 
the  physical  conditions,  hard  as  they  are,  that  press  most 
upon  the  life  of  the  Esquimaux,  but  the  fact  that  they  are 
under  the  spell  of  superstitions  which  prompt  them  to  the 
most  extreme  inhumanity  and  cruelty.  They  are  believers 
in  witchcraft,  and  ascribe  any  sickness  or  pain  to  an  evil 
spirit,  that  must  be  exorcised,  even  if  it  be  by  murder. 
Hence,  no  sooner  is  one  taken  ill,  than  he  or  she,  be  it  the 
poor  old  father  or  mother,  when  most  in  need  of  tender 
care,  is  dragged  out  of  the  little  home  into  some  out-house 
where  he  or  she  will  soon  perish  by  cold.  Sometimes  the 


NATURE  AND  MAN  FARTHER  NORTH       129 

parents  are  put  to  death  by  their  children.  Not  that  the 
latter  are  by  disposition  cruel,  or  wanting  in  natural  affec- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  their  government  is  patriarchal, 
and  educates  them,  so  far  as  they  can  have  any  educa- 
tion, in  respect  for  parents.  But  life  is  so  hard,  that 
when  the  vigor  of  youth  and  manhood  is  gone,  the  aged 
may  well  feel  that  existence  is  a  burden,  and  wish  it  to 
be  put  to  an  end.  Indeed,  it  is  not  uncommon  in  Arctic 
Alaska  for  the  old  folks  to  beg  to  be  relieved  of  their 
misery.  Dr.  Jackson  tells  me  of  a  case  in  St.  Lawrence 
Island,  in  which  an  aged  grandmother  had  for  two  years 
implored  her  children  to  release  her  from  suffering,  and 
they  finally  complied,  as  if  it  were  a  tribute  of  affection, 
dressing  her  up  in  her  finery,  as  if  to  celebrate  her 
birthday,  when  all  put  on  their  best  as  for  a  domestic 
festival,  and,  gathering  round  her,  with  a  cord  twisted 
round  her  neck,  put  an  end  to  her  weary  existence ! 

Such  are  the  pictures  of  Esquimaux  life !  The  wants 
of  such  a  people  are  manifold.  They  need  the  com- 
monest necessities;  even  so  little  a  thing  as  lucifer 
matches  would  furnish  the  means  of  light  in  their  dark, 
underground  habitations.  But  they  need  something 
more  than  these  little  conveniences  of  civilization  to  give 
light  and  life  to  an  existence  that  is  so  dark  and  dreary. 

In  the  Arctic  circle  for  a  part  of  the  year  they  see 
not  the  light  of  the  sun.  But  his  absence  is  partly  com- 
pensated by  the  increased  brilliancy  given  to  the  constel- 
lations of  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  which  is  all  aglow 
with  celestial  fires.  Dr.  Kane  used  to  say,  that  the  most 
overpowering  spectacle  in  nature  is  that  of  the  Arctic 
night.  And  yet  that  midnight  splendor  shines  down  on 
one  of  the  most  ignorant  and  degraded  populations  of 
the  globe ;  so  little  can  nature  alone  do  for  the  eleva- 
9 


130  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

tion  of  man.  What  those  poor  people  need  is  not  daz- 
zling displays,  but  "  the  benefits  of  knowledge  and  the 
blessings  of  religion,"  which  would  be  a  sort  of  spiritual 
aurora,  lighting  up,  not  only  the  heavens  above,  but 
their  humble  homes  on  earth.  These  three  little  "  lamps  " 
— faith,  love,  and  hope — would  do  more  to  brighten  their 
poor  lives  than  all  the  stars  in  the  Arctic  sky. 


CHAPTEK  XIII 

SITKA   AND   THE   GOVERNMENT 

THE  return  from  the  north  was  not  so  full  of  surprises 
as  the  going  up.  But  surprise  is  not  the  only  element  of 
pleasure.  A  beautiful  landscape  is  twice  beautiful  when 
seen  again.  So  far  from  being  satisfied  or  "satiated" 
with  Alaska,  I  should  never  weary  of  it,  and,  if  it  were 
not  so  far  away,  could  take  a  sail  among  its  islands 
every  summer.  But  we  have  done  pretty  well  for  a 
beginning.  "We  have  not  seen  everything.  Nor  was 
that  necessary.  When  a  man  goes  to  Yenice  he  is  not 
obliged,  in  order  to  see  it,  to  take  a  gondola  by  the 
month  and  be  rowed  through  every  one  of  its  hundred 
canals.  A  dozen  is  as  good  as  a  hundred.  When  he 
has  done  this  he  can  turn  into  the  Grand  Canal  as 
proudly  as  if  he  were  a  Doge  of  Venice  going  in  state 
to  marry  the  city  to  the  sea. 

So  in  Alaska  the  islands  that  one  sees  in  going  up  and 
down  are  as  good  as  a  thousand  ;  for  each  one  tells  the 
story  of  them  all — of  their  volcanic  formation ;  of  what 
has  been  done  by  fire,  and  what  by  water  ;  of  their  pecul- 
iar vegetation ;  and  of  all  the  elements  that  are  com- 
bined in  what  Lord  Dufferin,  with  the  eye  and  the  pen 
of  an  artist,  describes  as  "  the  spectacle  presented  by  its 
coast-line,  not  to  be  paralleled  by  any  country  in  the 
world,"  in  which,  day  after  day,  the  voyager  "  threads  a 


132  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

labyrinth  of  watery  lanes  and  reaches,  that  wind  end- 
lessly in  and  out  of  a  network  of  islands,  promontories, 
and  peninsulas,  unruffled  by  the  slightest  swell  from  the 
adjoining  ocean,  and  presenting  at  every  turn  an  ever- 
shifting  combination  of  rock,  verdure,  forest,  glacier,  and 
snow-capped  mountains,  of  unrivalled  grandeur  and 
beauty." 

To  add  to  the  pleasure  of  our  experience,  the  weather, 
which  is  apt  to  be  capricious,  was  perfect ;  we  had  not 
a  day  of  rain ;  nor  was  there  a  shadow  in  the  sky 
except  as  the  fleecy  clouds  gathered  round  the  setting 
sun.  And  the  nights  were  almost  as  bright  as  the  days, 
with  the  long,  lingering  twilight,  upon  which,  near  the 
end,  rose  the  full  moon,  whose  soft  light  seemed  to  quiver 
with  tenderness  as  it  fell  on  the  whispering  woods  and 
the  rippling  waters. 

This  charm  was  prolonged  when  we  sailed  into  the 
Bay  of  Sitka,  with  the  sun  shining  brightly  on  the  quaint 
old  Russian  town.  Why  the  Russians  chose  it  for  their 
capital  it  is  easy  to  see :  because  it  is  midway  between 
the  north  and  the  south ;  and  has  a  double  entrance, 
opening  at  once  to  the  east  and  the  west,  the  archipel- 
ago and  the  ocean  ;  and,  more  than  all,  has  one  of  the 
most  spacious  and  beautiful  harbors  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
As  it  was  midsummer  the  mountains  were  covered  with 
dense  foliage,  making  a  beautiful  setting  for  the  flash- 
ing waters.  As  we  swept  round  the  harbor,  we  saw  at 
once  how  large  it  was,  and  how  beautiful  withal,  with  its 
hundred  islands  (as  there  are  said  to  be  by  actual  count), 
and  with  the  lofty  head  of  Mount  Edgecombe  looking 
down  upon  it,  in  shape  not  unlike  Vesuvius,  as  it  was 
once  a  volcano,  for  which,  as  for  other  resemblances, 
the  bay  is  often  compared  to  that  of  Naples,  a  compari- 


SITKA  AND  THE   GOVERNMENT  133 

son  which  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  establish  its  title  to 
be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world. 

But  with  all  this  beauty  on  land  and  sea,  Sitka  has 
two  drawbacks.  One  is  its  long  winter  nights,  when  the 
sun  rises  at  nine  o'clock  and  sets  at  three  !  How  to  dis- 
pose of  the  other  three  quarters  of  the  day,  is  the  ques- 
tion. If  the  natives  had  any  resource  but  drinking,  it 
would  not  be  so  difficult.  Iceland  has  the  same  short 
days,  and  yet  its  people  are  remarkably  intelligent,  which 
they  owe  in  part  to  this  very  fact,  that,  as  they  cannot 
go  abroad  to  work,  they  are  shut  up  to  books,  which 
brighten  their  long  winter  evenings  as  much  as  their 
blazing  fires. 

Another  drawback  is  not  so  easily  disposed  of.  Sitka 
is  said  to  be  the  rainiest  place  in  the  world  outside  of  the 
tropics.  It  is  not  as  cold  as  we  might  expect  from  its 
latitude.  The  climate  is  not  as  severe  as  that  of  New 
England,  as  the  Black  Current  of  Japan  comes  nearer  to 
it  than  the  Gulf  Stream  comes  to  our  New  England 
coast.  But  that  warm  current  brings  something  besides 
"  ethereal  mildness "  ;  it  takes  up  such  an  amount  of 
moisture  from  the  vast  expanse  of  the  Pacific,  that  great 
clouds  rise  in  the  west  and  drift  eastward,  and  striking 
against  the  snow-clad  mountain  ranges,  are  precipitated 
all  along  the  coast.  And  so  it  rains  on  the  slightest 
provocation,  or  on  none  at  all.  A  gentleman  whose 
home  is  here,  told  me  that  he  kept  count  last  year, 
and  that  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  it 
rained  two  hundred  and  seventy  !  This  is  paying  rather 
dear  for  grand  scenery,  for  snow-clad  mountains,  and 
glaciers  and  waterfalls ! 

But  not  to  give  the  place  too  bad  a  reputation,  he 
qualified  it  by  adding  that  it  was  not  always  a  down- 


134  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

pour ;  that  sometimes  the  rain  distilled  like  the  dew, 
or  came  in  a  gentle  shower,  after  which  the  clouds  broke 
away,  and  the  pattering  drops  but  cleansed  the  air,  and 
were  fo'llowed  by  delicious  sunshine. 

As  the  capital,  Sitka  inherits  a  sort  of  dignity  from 
the  old  Russian  days,  though  there  are  but  small  signs 
of  imperial  magnificence,  such  as  the  ruins  of  a  stately 
old  house,  called  by  courtesy  the  "  Castle,"  as  it  did  the 
double  duty  of  being  at  once  a  fort  and  the  residence  of 
the  Governor ;  a  block  house,  built  of  logs,  that  was  put 
up  for  defence  against  the  Indians;  and  a  small  Greek 
church,  for  the  service  of  the  few  descendants  of  Rus- 
sians, who  still  abide  in  the  place  once  occupied  by  their 
fathers. 

For  a  long  time  after  Alaska  came  into  possession  of 
the  United  States,  it  was  treated  with  strange  neglect. 
The  only  sign  of  a  change  of  sovereignty  was  the  flag 
flying  at  Sitka  and  a  revenue  cutter  lying  in  the  harbor, 
whose  captain  was  the  only  official  who  was  clothed 
with  authority  over  anybody,  white  man  or  Indian. 
He  alone  could  arrest  one  who  had  committed  a  crime, 
and  if  it  were  robbery  or  murder,  he  might  try  him  by 
a  drum-head  court-martial  and  have  him  shot  or  hung, 
but  such  a  thing  as  a  civil  court,  or  trial  by  judge  or 
jury,  was  wholly  unknown.  It  was  not  till  seventeen 
years  had  passed,  in  1884,  that  Congress  passed  the 
organic  act  creating  a  government,  adopting  the  laws  of 
Oregon  for  the  Territory,  with  a  Governor,  appointed 
by  the  President ;  and  a  Judge,  a  District  Attorney,  and 
a  Marshal,  to  set  up  a  court ;  four  commissioners  and 
four  deputies  divided  between  Sitka,  "Wrangel,  Juneau, 
and  Unalaska.  Here  was  at  least  the  skeleton  of  a  gov- 
ernment, with  a  slender  personnel,  but  sufficient  to  set 


SITKA   AND   THE    GOVERNMENT  135 

the  machinery  going,  and  to  put  Alaska  under  the  reign 
of  law.  It  touched  our  patriotic  pride  as  we  drew  up 
to  the  wharf  to  see  the  stars  and  stripes  flying,  and  a 
little  parade  ground  opposite  the  landing,  with  half  a 
dozen  field-pieces  to  fire  a  salute  on  the  arrival  and 
departure  of  "  dignities,"  though  the  military  establish- 
ment is  not  on  a  war  footing,  the  whole  force  consisting 
of  forty  marines  detailed  from  the  Pinta,  the  small  naval 
vessel  that  is  considered  sufficient  to  do  duty  in  these 
waters.  But  there  may  be  a  very  good  government 
without  an  armament.  If  the  old  democratic  saying 
be  true,  "  That  is  the  best  government  which  governs 
least,"  the  less  display  of  power  the  better.  There  is 
not  much  need  of  soldiers,  except  to  protect  the  peace- 
able inhabitants,  and  to  maintain  justice  by  the  prompt 
arrest  and  punishment  of  crime. 

Alaska  is  fortunate  in  having  for  its  Governor  a  good 
Pennsylvania  Presbyterian,  Mr.  James  Sheakley,  who 
had  a  previous  experience  of  several  years  as  school 
commissioner.  He  was  absent  on  the  revenue  cutter, 
looking  after  the  affairs  of  the  Territory,  but  his  wife 
gave  us  a  kindly  welcome  to  their  home,  and  his  son 
took  us  about  the  town,  the  brightest  spot  in  which  is 
the  mission  school,  with  its  Indian  children  learning  the 
ways  of  civilization  along  with  Christian  truth ;  and 
the  medical  provision  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  sick, 
whose  ignorance  makes  them  «o  helplessly  wretched. 
From  the  school  he  led  the  way  to  a  retreat  in  the 
woods,  where  a  stream,  fed  by  the  snows  from  the  moun- 
tains, comes  out  of  the  dark  recesses  of  the  forest  to  the 
sunshine  and  the  sea.  Along  this  stream  is  a  beautiful 
path,  opened  by  our  soldiers  soon  after  Sitka  was  trans- 
ferred from  Russian  to  American  hands. 


136  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

So  far  as  I  could  learn,  there  is  not  much  crime  in 
Alaska — not  more,  at  least,  than  is  to  be  found  in  any 
border  territory.  The  natives  are  poor  and  degraded, 
and  filthy  in  their  personal  habits,  but  they  are  not  the 
fiercest  of  savages.  On  the  outskirts  of  Sitka  is  the 
Indian  quarter,  where  one  may  see  groups  sitting  in 
the  sun,  with  ragged  garments  and  unkempt  hair,  as 
wretched  specimens  of  humanity  as  one  could  find  in  any 
heathen  country.  But  there  may  be  filth  and  squalor 
without  crime.  They  would  not  break  out  so  often  in 
deeds  of  violence,  were  not  their  tempers  inflamed  by 
that  which  sets  on  fire  the  blood  of  men  of  all  countries 
and  all  races — white,  red,  or  black.  So  that  the  ques- 
tion of  civilizing  the  Indian  in  Alaska,  as  elsewhere, 
depends  chiefly  on  keeping  him  away  from  that  by 
which  he  is  demonized,  or  "  set  on  fire  of  hell." 

Recognizing  this  great  danger,  the  laws  for  the  pro- 
hibition of  ardent  spirits  in  Alaska  are  of  the  most 
stringent  kind.  But  can  they  be  enforced  ?  That  is  the 
problem.  It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  police  a  coast  of  a 
thousand  miles,  and  where  there  are  more  than  a  thou- 
sand islands,  behind  which  the  swift  canoe  of  the  smug- 
gler can  dart  beyond  pursuit,  and  hide  the  forbidden 
spirits  in  the  recesses  of  the  forest. 

To  this  the  advocates  of  prohibition  answer,  "Non- 
sense !  Let  the  Government  give  us  a  revenue  cutter, 
with  two  or  three  swift  launches,  and  we  will  soon  run 
these  smugglers  to  their  holes.  It  is  not  for  want  of 
sufficient  means,  but  of  determined  purpose,  that  the  curse 
is  suffered  to  remain  to  blight  the  prosperity  of  this  far- 
off  territory." 

But  even  if  the  law  could  be  enforced,  some  are  still 
opposed  to  the  policy  of  prohibition.  They  take  a  tone 


SITKA   AND   THE   GOVERNMENT  137 

of  pity  for  the  poor  miner,  arguing  that  he  has  a 
right  to  have  his  little  drink,  and  that  it  would  be 
cruel  to  rob  him  of  what  is  often  the  sole  comfort  of 
his  hard  life.  Without  some  stimulant,  they  tell  us,  it 
is  hardly  possible  to  exist  in  this  cold,  harsh  climate, 
especially  for  one  leading  a  life  of  such  privation  and 
exposure.  They  draw  a  picture  of  the  miner  taking  his 
pick  at  early  morning,  and  starting  for  the  mountains  in 
search  of  gold.  All  day  long  he  climbs  the  heights,  or 
plunges  into  the  depths.  It  is  raw  and  cold ;  the  ther- 
mometer is  below  zero ;  the  rain  begins  to  fall ;  or  he  is 
blinded  with  snow,  till  night  comes  on,  and  he  drags 
himself  back  to  his  tent  wet  and  shivering,  tired  in  body, 
and  sick  at  heart.  Nothing  can  stir  his  blood  and  set  it 
flowing  in  his  veins  like  a  good  glass  of  hot  whiskey ! 
Would  it  not  be  the  extreme  of  cruelty  to  deny  the  poor 
fellow  his  only  comfort  and  only  luxury,  on  which  even 
his  life  may  depend  ? 

This  is  a  strong  plea  ;  and  it  requires  some  courage  to 
expose  one's  self  to  a  charge  of  cruelty.  Eather  would 
we  take  the  part  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  But  is  whiskey 
the  only  resource  ?  If  the  brave  miner  would  suffer  a 
word  of  kindness,  might  I  not  say  to  him,  "  Would  it  not 
be  just  as  well  for  you,  if,  when  drenched  to  the  skin, 
instead  of  rushing  to  the  whiskey  bottle,  you  should  kin- 
dle a  blazing  fire,  that  should  send  a  glow  to  your  very 
bones  ;  and  then  put  the  kettle  on,  and  make  a  cup  of 
strong  coffee,  such  as  your  wife  would  make  for  you  at 
home  ?  Would  not  that  be  equal  to  the  best  of  Old  Bour- 
bon or  Old  Eye  to  warm  you  through  and  through? 
And  if  all  in  the  mining  camp  should  follow  your  exam- 
ple, would  there  not  be  fewer  broken  heads  and  bloody 
noses  ? " 


138  OUR    WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

But  it  is  on  the  poor  Indian  that  the  curse  of  drink 
falls  most  heavily.  To  him  it  means  death  and  exter- 
mination ;  and  it  is  for  that  very  reason  that  some  of  our 
countrymen  look  upon  it  with  entire  composure,  as  the 
shortest  and  most  effective  means  of  getting  rid  of  the 
whole  race  of  red  men.  Visitors  to  Alaska  will  often 
hear,  on  the  steamer,  a  loud-mouthed  talker,  who  thinks 
himself  very  wise,  expatiating  after  this  sort : 

"  What  are  we  going  to  do  with  these  miserable  na- 
tives ?  They  are  a  bad  lot.  Indians  are  not  good  for 
much  anyhow.  They  are  lazy,  dirty,  and  shiftless.  We 
shall  have  to  get  rid  of  them  some  way.  But  we  need 
not  trouble  ourselves  about  it ;  only  let  them  alone,  and 
they  will  get  rid  of  themselves.  Whiskey  will  do  the 
business  better  than  fighting.  We  have  only  to  let 
the  whiskey  come  in  freely,  and  in  this  way  we  shall 
civilize  them  off  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  only 
carrying  out  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  which 
is  the  great  law  of  nature.  The  Indian  must  go,  as  other 
feeble  races  have  gone  before  him.  It  is  the  will  of  the 
Almighty  ; "  and  giving  a  sigh — very  slight  it  is,  and 
hardly  perceptible — and  putting  his  cigar  to  his  mouth, 
he  will  puff  away  with  a  vigor  that  shows  his  entire  ac- 
quiescence in  the  mysterious  ways  of  Divine  Providence. 

There  is  a  certain  brutal  frankness  in  this — in  the 
avowal  of  a  purpose  of  extermination  of  a  whole  race ; 
but  only  a  cowardly  hypocrisy  will  in  the  same  breath 
talk  of  Divine  Providence  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

Nor  is  fire-water  the  only  danger  against  which  these 
poor  creatures  need  protection.  They  are  maddened  by 
drink,  and  they  are  maddened  by  superstition,  and  here 
they  need  to  be  protected  against  themselves.  They  are 
believers  in  witchcraft  as  much  as  the  natives  of  Dark- 


SITKA  AND  THE    GOVERNMENT  139 

est  Africa.  For  whatever  of  disease  may  come  upon 
them,  they  have  but  one  explanation :  somebody  has 
bewitched  them ;  and,  in  their  rage  and  fury,  which  is 
all  the  greater  because  it  is  blind  and  unreasoning,  they 
turn  upon  whomsoever  their  suspicion,  or  their  hatred 
and  malice,  can  suggest  as  the  possible  author  of  their 
misery ;  and  hence  sickness  and  suffering,  which  should 
call  forth  the  tenderest  sympathy,  cause  husband  or 
wife,  brother  or  sister,  son  or  daughter,  to  flee  from  the 
sick  and  the  dying,  while  the  sufferer  calls  down  curses 
on  the  suspected,  and  stirs  up  his  own  kindred  to  acts 
of  murder.  Only  recently  a  woman  who  was  suspected 
of  witchcraft  was  seized  and  taken  into  the  forest,  and, 
with  her  arms  tied  behind  her  back,  was  bound  to  a  tree, 
and  left  to  perish.  At  the  very  moment  of  our  visit, 
the  medicine-man  by  whose  instigation  the  deed  was 
committed  was  in  jail  at  Sitka,  to  be  tried  for  his  crime. 

The  next  day  I  saw  in  the  little  church  at  Fort 
Wrangel  two  old  men  who  escaped  a  similar  fate  only 
by  fleeing  for  their  lives.  One  had  but  just  come  in. 
Finding  that  he  was  an  object  of  suspicion,  he  flew  to 
his  canoe  and  took  to  the  water,  hiding  behind  the 
islands  and  creeping  along  the  shores,  under  the  shade 
of  the  trees,  till  night  came  on,  and  then  putting  off  into 
the  stream,  and  rowing  with  all  his  might,  he  reached 
Fort  Wrangel,  where  he  found  protection.  He  had 
hardly  yet  recovered  from  the  horror  of  his  situation,  and 
it  did  me  good  to  give  him  a  hearty  grip  of  the  hand,  and 
to  assure  him,  as  others  did,  that  at  last  he  was  safe ! 

But  much  as  he  had  suffered,  he  did  not  complain. 
This  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  race.  The  Indian 
is  a  stolid  creature.  Indeed,  there  is  in  him  something 
like  the  Moslem  fatalism  and  stoicism.  If  he  suffers,  he 


140  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

suffers  silently.  Even  if  he  is  to  be  put  to  death,  he  asks 
no  pity  from  his  enemies,  but  wraps  his  blanket  about 
him  with  Roman  dignity,  and  bows  to  his  fate.  This  may 
not  move  us  so  much  as  the  loud  wailings  by  which 
weaker  races  appeal  to  our  sympathy,  and  yet  there  is 
something  in  that  dull,  dumb  silence,  which  commands  our 
respect  for  a  race  that  can  thus  "  suffer  and  be  strong." 

So  with  the  other  sex:  however  unhappy  they  may 
be,  they  do  not  parade  their  griefs ;  they  do  not  strive 
nor  cry,  nor  lift  up  their  voice  in  the  streets.  Nothing 
moves  my  indignation  so  much  as  the  imputation  upon 
their  virtue.  All  over  the  world,  where  human  beings 
are  crowded  together  like  cattle,  whether  it  be  in  wig- 
wams or  in  the  slums  of  great  cities,  the  conditions  are 
such  as  to  break  down  natural  reserve  and  delicacy  and 
modesty.  But  give  to  Indian  girls  the  same  retirement 
that  we  give  to  our  own  daughters,  and  they  will  not  be 
wanting  in  any  of  the  proprieties.  In  the  Indian  schools 
at  Sitka  and  Juneau  and  Fort  Wrangel  one  may  see 
young  maidens  as  modest  as  can  be  found  in  any  semi- 
nary in  New  England.  The  little  creatures  are  often  as 

«/  o 

shy  as  the  young  deer  in  the  forest,  their  eyes  drooping 
at  the  look  of  a  stranger,  and  their  voices  as  soft  and 
gentle  as  if  they  hardly  dared  to  speak.  The  power 
which  extends  over  them  its  strong  arm,  is  the  protector 
of  this  helpless  childhood,  and  in  that  of  the  pure  woman- 
hood and  strong  manhood,  which  are  the  foundation  of 
civilized  society. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SCHOOLS   AND   MISSIONS 

WHEN  Alaska  passed  from  the  hands  of  Russia  into 
those  of  the  United  States,  it  might  have  been  expected 
that  the  breath  of  liberty  would  waken  all  that  coast  to 
a  new  life,  that  would  show  itself,  not  only  in  the  gov- 
ernment, but  in  business  and  commerce,  and,  most  of  all, 
in  the  care  shown  for  the  supreme  interests  of  education 
and  religion.  Not  that  our  predecessors  had  been  alto- 
gether forgetful  of  these  interests.  The  Russians  gener- 
ally carry  their  religion  with  them,  and  at  the  very 
beginning  of  this  century,  in  1804,  as  soon  as  there  was 
a  government  at  Sitka,  there  was  a  Greek  church.  Nor 
was  the  exercise  of  religion  restricted  to  the  national 
church;  for,  forty-two  years  later,  in  1846,  the  Governor 
— Etolin — was  a  Lutheran,  and  had  a  church  of  his  own 
faith,  composed  of  Russians,  Finns,  and  natives.  In- 
deed, ten  years  before  the  first  Greek  church  at  Sitka, 
one  was  built  at  Saint  Paul  on  Kadiak  Island,  which 
has  just  celebrated  its  centennial. 

But  of  course,  when  Alaska  became  a  part  of  the 
Great  Republic,  we  expected,  or  might  have  expected, 
that  a  "  sunburst "  of  liberty,  education,  and  religion 
would  rise  like  one  of  its  own  auroras  over  all  its  woods 
and  waters.  But  to  our  shame  it  must  be  confessed  that, 


142  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

after  getting  possession  of  the  country,  we  did  not  seem 
to  know  what  to  do  with  it.  As  I  have  already  said,  it 
was  not  till  seventeen  years  after  the  "  passing  of  title  " 
that  we  gave  it  so  much  as  a  government.  And  as  for 
religion,  it  is  recorded  that  on  the  Sunday  after  the 
transfer  in  1867,  an  army  chaplain,  Rev.  Mr.  Rayner, 
conducted  a  service  in  the  English  language  ;  but  appar- 
ently any  impression  it  might  produce  floated  away  into 
the  air,  like  the  smoke  of  the  guns  which  saluted  the 
American  flag.  After  that  one  prayer  in  the  wilderness, 
the  woods  and  waters  relapsed  into  a  silence — unless  it 
were  broken  by  some  passing  army  or  navy  chaplain — 
that  was  undisturbed  for  years. 

But  private  zeal  did  not  wait  for  the  slow  movements 
of  government.  There  was  one  man  who  had  Alaska 
on  the  brain.  It  is  hard  to  make  a  historic  figure  of  one 
who  is  extremely  modest  in  his  appearance,  and  yet  no 
history  of  Alaska  can  be  written  that  overlooks  the  ubiq- 
uitous Sheldon  Jackson,  who  was  born  to  be  a  pioneer, 
and  from  early  manhood  felt  that  his  post  of  duty 
was  to  be  at  the  front — on  the  skirmish  line — where  the 
work  was  hardest  and  the  danger  greatest.  I  met  him 
first  in  1872  in  Denver,  where  he  was  a  frontiersman, 
on  the  lookout  for  opportunities,  and  wrote  of  him  : 
"  That  indefatigable  worker,  Sheldon  Jackson,  is  '  pros- 
pecting '  around  in  all  parts  of  the  Territory,  hunting  up 
lost  sheep  on  the  mountains  and  gathering  them  into  lit- 
tle churches,  and  sowing  beside  all  waters."  Those  were 
the  days  when  miners  were  exploring  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains for  gold,  and  he  was  on  their  trail.  Wherever 
they  went  he  followed,  always  striking  for  the  camp. 
If  there  was  a  stage  coach  he  took  passage  till  he  came 
to  the  end  of  the  road,  and  then,  if  he  could  hire  an 


SCHOOLS  AND   MISSIONS  143 

Indian  pony,  he  threw  his  saddle-bags  over  its  back  and 
jogged  on  till  even  the  bridle-path  came  to  an  end,  and 
then  he  went  on  foot ;  for  he  was  determined  to  "  get 
there,"  and  he  always  did.  Pretty  soon  he  was  a  famil- 
iar figure  in  the  camps,  where  his  homely,  hearty  ways 
made  him  a  welcome  visitor.  On  a  Sunday  the  miners 
would  gather  about  him  under  a  tree,  and  he  would  talk 
to  them  about  the  old  home,  and  the  old  folks,  who  were 
thinking  of  their  absent  sons,  in  such  a  kindly  way  as  to 
touch  a  soft  place  in  their  rough  bosoms ;  and,  after  a 
few  such  visits,  there  might  be  the  nucleus  of  a  Sunday- 
school  that  in  time  would  grow  into  a  little  church  in 
the  wilderness. 

Nor  was  the  range  of  this  long-distance  circuit  rider 
confined  to  Colorado.  As  if  he  could  never  find  work 
enough  to  do,  he  would  now  and  then  ride  over  the 
mountains  into  Utah,  and  preach  to  the  Mormons  in 
Salt  Lake  City;  and  then,  turning  sharply  to  the  north, 
drop  down  among  the  miners  of  Montana.  Thus  he 
was  a  sort  of  bishop  of  the  midcontinent,  with  a  diocese 
that,  north  and  south,  extended  from  Canada  to  Mexico. 

Meanwhile,  Dr.  Lindsley,  of  Portland,  and  other 
leaders  of  the  Church  on  the  coast  were  looking  eagerly 
towards  Alaska,  on  which  Sheldon  Jackson  had  long 
had  his  eye,  though  he  did  not  visit  it  till  1877,  when  he 
opened  a  school  at  Fort  Wrangel,  which  was  put  in 
charge  of  Mrs.  McFarland,  as  noble  a  woman  as  ever 

O 

devoted  herself  to  a  missionary  life.  He  had  felt  from 
the  beginning  that  what  was  needful  for  Alaska  was 
to  supplement  and  complement  the  court-house  with 
the  school-house.  To  this  end  Congress  appropriated 
forty  thousand  dollars  for  education,  of  which  twenty- 
five  thousand  were  for  public  schools,  and  fifteen  thou- 


144  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

sand  for  what  are  called  "  contract  schools '' — a  provision 
which  would  have  been  of  little  value,  if  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  had  not  at  once  appointed  Sheldon  Jack- 
son to  take  charge  of  the  fund  and  see  that  it  was  faith- 
fully administered. 

To  do  this,  and  do  it  well,  required  a  preparation 
that  could  not  be  made  off-hand.  The  teachers  must  be 
chosen  with  care ;  they  must  be  picked  men  and  women. 
And  there  were  other  indispensables  for  those  who  were 
going  to  plant  little  colonies  on  islands  that  were  a 
hundred  times  more  desolate  than  that  of  Robinson 
Crusoe,  for  on  all  the  Aleutian  Islands  there  was  not  a 
single  tree* — not  a  stick  of  wood  to  light  a  fire,  or  to 
build  even  a  wigwam.  All  was  bleak  and  barren,  as  so 
many  rocks  swept  by  the  waves.  They  had  therefore  to 
take  boards  to  build  their  little  houses,  with  nails  and 
hammers  to  put  them  together ;  with  desks  and  benches 
for  the  schools,  as  well  as  primers  and  books;  and  last, 
but  not  least,  some  plain  and  coarse  clothing  for  the 
children  to  cover  their  nakedness. 

Thus  equipped  with  everything  needed,  the  schooner 
Leo,  which  the  government  had  chartered  for  the  pur- 
pose, sailed  from  Seattle  in  Puget  Sound,  in  1886,  for 
the  Aleutian  Islands.  The  year  before,  Mr.  Jackson 
had  sent  a  teacher — who  was  a  Jew — to  Unalaska,  to 
open  a  school,  the  first  in  all  these  islands,  save, 
perchance,  some  little  schools  attempted  by  the  Greek 


*  It  is  said  that  forty  years  before,  a  visitor  had  set  out  a  few 
firs  in  a  sheltered  cove,  in  Unalaska,  where  they  have  had  a  stunted 
growth,  but  are  not  even  now  over  twenty  feet  high.  With  this 
exception,  there  is  not  a  single  tree  in  a  distance  of  five  hundred 
miles  ! 


SCHOOLS   AND   MISSIONS  145 

priests  whom  the  Kussians  had  brought  with  them,  and 
by  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company.  Schools  were 
now  distributed  at  four  other  points:  Unga,  Kadiak, 
Afognak,  and  Klawack  on  the  Prince  of  Wales 
Island,  at  each  of  which  was  left  a  teacher  with  his 
family. 

That  surely  was  a  memorable  voyage.  The  little 
schooner  sailing  away  into  the  Northern  seas,  and  pass- 
ing from  island  to  island,  leaving  at  each  "a  teacher 
with  his  family,"  was  another  Mayflower,  dropping  the 
seeds  of  civilization  in  the  wilderness.  Of  course,  the 
school  was  followed  by  the  church,  and  here  a  peculiar 
beauty  was  given  to  the  early  missions  in  the  way  that 
different  denominations  entered  the  field  and  worked 
together.  This  harmony  was  not  a  happy  accident,  but 
the  result  of  forethought,  and  of  a  purpose  so  high  that 
it  lifted  them  all  above  sectarian  pride  and  ambition. 
The  field  was  so  vast  that  it  would  have  been  impossible 
even  to  touch  it  at  different  points,  except  by  concert  of 
action,  in  which  each  division  in  the  little  missionary 
army  should  select  its  particular  field  of  labor  on  the 
islands  or  the  coast.  This  was  the  policy  of  Sheldon 
Jackson,  in  which  he  found  a  strong  supporter  in  Dr. 
Henry  Kendall,  the  Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Home  Missions,  who  invited  the  Methodists  and  the 
Baptists  and  the  Episcopalians,  represented  by  their 
Secretaries,  Dr.  John  M.  Reid,  Dr.  Henry  M.  More- 
house,  and  Dr.  William  S.  Langford,  to  meet  together 
and  talk  it  over.  Dr.  Langford  wrote  that  he  could  not 
be  present,  but  joined  heartily  in  the  proposed  agree- 
ment. The  others  came,  but  it  was  a  small  affair  in  out- 
ward appearance — only  three  secretaries  and  Sheldon 
Jackson — just  enough  to  sit  round  a  table;  but  this  little 
10 


146  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

company,  meeting  in  an  upper  room,  was  sufficient  to 
inaugurate  a  policy  of  peace,  that,  if  adopted  on  a 
larger  scale,  would  work  for  the  benefit  of  all  Chris- 
tendom. 

And  now  I  see  these  four  heads  bending  over  the  little 
table,  on  which  Sheldon  Jackson  has  spread  out  a  map 
of  Alaska.  For  the  first  time  they  see  its  tremendous 
proportions,  as  it  reaches  over  many  degrees  of  longitude 
and  far  up  into  the  Arctic  circle.  The  allotment  was 
made  in  perfect  harmony.  As  the  Presbyterians  had 
been  the  first  to  enter  Southeastern  Alaska,  all  agreed 
that  they  should  retain  it,  untroubled  by  any  intrusion. 
By  the  same  rule  the  Episcopalians  were  to  keep  the 
valley  of  the  Yukon,  where  the  Church  of  England,  fol- 
lowing in  the  track  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  had 
planted  its  missions  forty  years  before.  The  island  of 
Kadiak,  with  the  adjoining  region  of  Cook's  Inlet,  made 
a  generous  portion  for  the  Baptist  brethren  ;  while  to  the 
Methodists  were  assigned  the  Aleutian  and  Shumagin 
Islands.  The  Moravians  were  to  pitch  their  tents  in  the 
interior — in  the  valleys  of  the  Kushokwin  and  the  Nush- 
kagak  ;  while  the  Congregationalists  mounted  higher  to 
the  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  on  the  American  side  of  Ber- 
ing Strait ;  and  last  of  all,  as  nobody  else  would  take 
it,  the  Presbyterians  went  to  Point  Barrow,  in  latitude 
seventy-one  degrees  and  twenty-three  minutes,  the  most 
northern  mission  station  in  the  world !  There  is  a  little 
Danish  church  at  Upernavik,  in  Greenland,  which  is 
higher — seventy-two  degrees  and  forty  minutes — but  no 
mission  station.  Thus,  in  the  military  assignment  of 
posts  to  be  held,  the  stout-hearted  Presbyterians  at  once 
led  the  advance,  and  brought  up  the  rear  in  a  climate 
where  the  thermometer  was  at  times  fifty  degrees  be- 


SCHOOLS  AND  MISSIONS  147 

low  zero — a  situation  that  called  for  no  ordinary  amount 
of  "  grit  and  grace  "  ! 

Here  was  an  ideal  distribution  of  the  missionary  force, 
in  which  there  was  no  sacrifice  of  principle,  but  an  over- 
flow of  Christian  love,  which  seemed  to  come  as  a  bap- 
tism from  on  high.  It  was  not  in  pride  or  scorn,  but  in 
the  truest  love,  that  these  soldiers  of  the  cross  turned  to 
the  right  and  the  left,  at  the  command  of  their  great 
Leader,  and  marched  to  their  several  positions  of  duty 
and  of  danger. 

How  wide  was  the  separation  of  these  brave  men,  may 
be  seen  from  a  table  of  distances.  Starting  from  the 
Presbyterian  stations  in  Alaska,  and  sailing  northwest, 
one  might  espy  a  little  Swedish  church  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Saint  Elias  ;  but  then  turning  southwest,  he  would 
have  to  sail  five  hundred  miles  before  he  came  to  the 
position  held  by  the  Baptists,  from  which  to  Unga,  where 
the  Methodists  pitched  their  tents,  is  another  stretch 
of  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  miles. 
These  are  all  island  stations,  while  the  Episcopalians, 
Moravians,  and  Congregationalists  are  on  the  coast  or  in 
the  interior. 

These  distances  are  reckoned  from  the  outside — from 
the  circumference — whereas,  if  measured  from  centre  to 
centre,  the  distance  from  Sitka  to  Kadiak  is  six  hundred 
and  thirty-three  miles  in  an  air  line,  and  other  stations 
"  stand  off "  on  the  land,  or  into  the  sea,  in  the  same 
majestic  isolation.  These  magnificent  distances  would 
keep  the  most  belligerent  of  men,  even  those  who  were 
sticklers  for  creeds  and  forms,  from  controversy.  No 
man  could  "despise  his  brother"  over  such  vast  stretches 
of  land  and  sea. 

To  appreciate  the  courage  that  faces  such  conditions, 


148  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

we  must  consider  what  it  means  to  be  separated  from 
one's  kindred.  It  is  almost  equivalent  to  being  cut  off 
from  communion  with  the  human  race.  Living,  as  we  do, 
in  populous  communities,  we  can  hardly  comprehend  the 
awful  silence  and  loneliness  of  the  Arctic  circle,  where 
men  are  almost  buried  alive.  Their  situation  is,  in  some 
respects,  worse  than  that  of  exiles  in  Siberia,  for  the 
exiles  can  at  least  have  the  companionship  of  sorrow. 
But  some  of  our  missionaries  are  literally  out  of  the 
world.  They  receive  a  mail  only  once  a  year !  Months 
may  pass  without  seeing  a  familiar  face.  In  one  case, 
a  missionary  was  left  alone  among  the  Esquimaux 
for  a  whole  winter.  At  last  there  came  a  party  of 
natives  with  a  dog  which  had  been  given  them  by 
an  English  trader;  and  for  want  of  other  company, 
the  poor  missionary  trudged  over  the  snow  every 
day,  as  he  expressed  it,  "to  talk  English  with  that 
dog!"  How  he  must  have  yearned  for  the  sight  of 
one  of  his  race,  with  whom  he  -could  speak  in  his  own 
tongue  wherein  he  was  born!  Add  to  this  tie  of 
blood  that  of  Christian  brotherhood,  and  how  over- 
mastering must  be  the  longing  for  some  fellow-being 
whom  he  could  call  brother,  and  press  to  his  aching 
bosom ! 

Nor  would  he  stop  very  long  to  ask  to  what  denomi- 
nation the  Christian  stranger  belonged.  In  those  high 
latitudes  these  little  matters  of  sect  get  strangely  mixed 
up,  so  that  it  is  hard  to  tell  "which  is  which."  Dr. 
Jackson  says,  that,  as  he  sailed  from  island  to  island,  and 
saw  the  missionarv  coming  down  to  the  shore  to  meet 

w 

him,  he  could  not  "tell  them  apart."  Even  when  he 
came  to  St.  Michael,  sixty  miles  north  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Yukon,  and  there  met  a  Catholic  priest,  who  had 


SCHOOLS  AND  MISSIONS  149 

come  from  the  interior  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  to  get  his  yearly  mail  and  his  yearly  supplies, 
he  says,  "  My  heart  went  out  to  him  as  a  brother ! " 
And  why  should  it  not  go  out  to  him?  Eobinson  Crusoe 
on  his  island  would  find  a  brother  in  any  human  being. 
When  two  men  meet  on  a  desolate  coast,  and  look  in 
each  other's  faces,  they  are  not  apt  to  stand  on  ceremony. 
The  tie  of  humanity  is  enough  to  draw  them  together. 
But  here  was  a  still  stronger  tie ;  both  were  working  for 
the  same  end,  to  raise  up  humanity  from  its  lowest 
degradation.  How  could  a  true-hearted  man  help  hon- 
oring and  loving  one  whose  life  was  formed  on  the  great 
example  of  sacrifice  that  was  ever  before  him  in  the  cross 
that  hung  upon  his  breast ! 

And  here  is  the  moral  benefit  of  a  life  amid  such  hard 
conditions — that  it  throws  men  upon  one  another  for 
sympathy  and  support,  and  upon  Him  who  is  the  Creator 
and  Preserver  of  all.  In  the  Arctic  regions  man  is 
bowed  down  with  a  sense  of  his  own  littleness  and  weak- 
ness and  dependence  upon  a  Higher  Power.  Who  can 
look  up  to  the  splendor  of  the  Arctic  night  without  a 
feeling  of  awe  that  is  akin  to  adoration  ?  And  if  God 
be  our  Father,  then  all  we  are  brethren,  and  common 
duties  and  common  dangers  should  bind  us  together  in  a 
holy  brotherhood. 

I  have  been  led  to  this  train  of  reflection  because  I 
like  to  recall  the  names  and  deeds  of  those  whom  I  love 
and  honor.  Our  brave  missionaries  are  making  history 
for  us.  They  are  the  pioneers  of  civilization,  and  if 
what  they  have  done  be  not  recognized  now,  it  will  be 
hereafter.  When  we  are  all  dead  and  gone,  and  our 
Western  Archipelago  is  no  longer  a  wilderness;  when 
church  spires  rise  out  of  the  primeval  forest,  and  the 


150  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

sound  of  the  church-going  bell  is  heard  over  these  woods 
and  waters;  then  will  the  historians  of  that  day  seek 
among  the  graves  of  the  fathers  to  find  to  whom  Alaska 
owes  its  schools  and  churches,  and  no  name  will  be  held 
in  more  grateful  remembrance  than  that  of  Sheldon 
Jackson. 


CHAPTER  XY 

THE   STORY    OF   METLAKAHTLA 

WHILE  we  were  so  slow  in  establishing  schools  and  mis- 
sions in  Alaska,  British  Columbia  had  many  years  before 
set  us  an  example,  which  it  is  a  duty  to  recognize  to  the 
honor  of  Christian  heroism  and  devotion. 

"  The  age  of  chivalry  is  gone,"  said  Edmund  Burke 
a  hundred  years  ago.  In  the  crash  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion he  thought  everything  was  going  to  wreck  and  ruin. 
But  it  was  only  the  form,  and  not  the  reality.  The 
essence  of  chivalry  lies  in  courage  and  self-denial  in  a 
good  cause — a  readiness  to  sacrifice  everything  for  the 
benefit  of  one's  fellow-men,  at  any  loss  or  any  danger. 
And  if  anybody  doubts  whether  this  spirit  of  chivalry 
still  exists  on  the  earth,  "  let  him  listen  to  the  story," 
not  "  of  Rasselas,  Prince  of  Abyssinia,"  but  of  a  humble 
missionary  on  the  western  coast  of  North  America. 

Long  before  the  world  knew  much  of  Oregon  and 
California,  British  Columbia  was  known  through  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  whose  settlements  were  occa- 
sionally visited  by  English  ships.  Among  these  was  Her 
Majesty's  ship  Satellite,  whose  captain  was  interested  in 
missions,  and  was  shocked  to  find  a  tribe  of  Indians 
who  were  given  to  cannibalism.  Not  that  they  were 
all  cannibals,  but  it  was  practised  by  the  Shamans  (or 
medicine-men),  or  a  certain  class  or  "gang"  in  a  tribe 


152  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

(other  tribes  had  their  gangs  of  dog-eaters)  as  a  sort  of 
religious  rite — a  sacrifice  to  appease  the  anger  of  their 
gods.  Some  of  those  who  afterwards  became  Christians, 
said  they  had  done  it  "  to  appease  the  Great  Spirit,  who 
demanded  human  flesh,  and  that  if  He  did  not  get  it 
through  the  appointed  medium  the  whole  tribe  would  be 
in  danger  of  being  devoured  !  " 

Such  was  the  story  which  this  Christian  captain 
brought  back  to  England.  Now  cannibals  are  outlaws 
in  all  nations  of  the  world.  They  are  enemies  of  the 
human  race,  whom  it  is  almost  a  duty  to  humanity  to 
exterminate.  But  this  brave  captain  would  not  think  of 
resorting  to  that  desperate  alternative,  at  least  until 
other  means  were  exhausted;  and  he  offered  to  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  of  London,  as  he  was  to 
return  to  this  coast,  to  take  any  one  who  had  the  cour- 
age to  peril  his  life  in  the  effort  to  reclaim  these  savages. 

The  offer  reached  the  ear  of  a  young  man  from  York- 
shire, who  was  at  a  college  near  London,  William  Dun- 
can by  name,  who,  with  the  ardor  of  youth,  thought 
that  here  was  an  opportunity  to  see  whether  there  was 
really  any  power  in  Christianity  to  subdue  the  worst  of 
men,  and  he  went  to  the  Missionary  Society  and  volun- 
teered for  the  dangerous  service.  They  took  him  at  his 
word ;  not,  perhaps,  that  they  had  much  confidence  in 
his  heroic  project,  but  they  were  willing  that  he  should 
lead  a  forlorn  hope,  which  few  had  the  courage  to 
undertake ;  and  gave  him  what  seemed  to  be  a  commis- 
sion to  death  by  martyrdom. 

In  due  time  the  Satellite  reappeared  on  the  western 
coast  of  America ;  but  when  she  arrived  at  Victoria,  the 
governor  of  the  island  of  Vancouver,  and  the  officers  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  stoutly  opposed  his  going  to 


THE   STORY   OF   METLAKAHTLA  153 

Fort  Simpson,  assuring  him  that  his  life  would  soon  be 
taken  by  the  Indians,  and  that  the  fort  could  afford  him 
no  immunity  from  danger.  The  governor  and  the  cap- 
tain almost  got  into  a  quarrel  about  his  destination  ;  but 
on  his  assuring  the  governor  that  he  had  counted  the 
cost,  and  would  take  the  risk,  he  gave  way,  and  so,  after 
being  detained  three  months  at  Yictoria,  he  was  allowed 
to  proceed  to  what  seemed  a  certain  sacrifice. 

At  Fort  Simpson  the  Hudson. Bay  Company,  deeming 
it  necessary  to  take  all  precautions  to  protect  its  officials, 
had  built  a  stockade  thirty-two  feet  high,  with  guns 
placed  in  bastions  at  two  corners  of  a  square,  which  was 
manned  and  defended  by  twenty-two  employes  of  the 
Company.  Inside  this  stockade  Duncan  kept,  or  per- 
haps was  kept,  for  a  few  months,  for,  had  he  exposed 
himself  at  any  distance,  he  would  have  been  straightway 
killed  and  eaten !  As  it  was,  he  saw  sights  that  thrilled 
him  with  horror.  One  day,  looking  over  the  parapet, 
he  saw  two  "  gangs  "  of  savages  in  a  melee,  and,  looking 
more  closely,  he  saw  that  they  had  the  body  of  a 
woman,  which  they  were  literally  tearing  to  pieces,  that 
they  might  devour  it !  At  another  time  he  saw  three 
"  gangs  "  eating  the  body  of  a  boy  who  had  died  of  con- 
sumption. If  he  had  been  an  ordinary  man  he  would 
have  taken  the  next  ship  and  returned  to  England, 
feeling  that  he  had  ventured  as  near  to  the  gates  of 
hell  as  it  was  safe  to  go.  But  he  was  made  of  other 
stuff,  and  lingered  still,  till,  after  he  had  learned  enough 
of  their  language  to  be  able  to  talk  with  them,  he  walked 
out  of  the  gates  and  put  himself  in  their  power.  Of 
course,  he  took  his  life  in  his  hands,  but  the  result 
showed  that  this  boldness  was  the  truest  wisdom.  By 
showing  confidence  in  them,  he  gained  their  confidence 


154  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

in  him.  He  disarmed  them,  not  by  force  of  arms,  but 
by  kindness.  He  would  take  up  a  pappoose  in  his  arms 
so  gently  as  to  warm  the  poor  mother's  heart.  Where 
even  the  men  in  the  fort  would  not  venture,  he  went 
unprotected.  If  he  was  weary  at  midday  he  would  lie 
down  under  a  tree  and  fall  asleep,  while  all  round  him 
were  those  who  had  been  but  lately  savages  and  can- 
nibals. Yet  not  a  man  would  touch  a  hair  of  his  head. 
Thus  little  by  little  he  won  upon  their  affection  and 
their  gratitude — for  savages,  and  even  cannibals,  are 
capable  of  both — till  they  began  to  look  to  him  as  their 
best  friend.  To  be  sure,  he  was  somewhat  of  a  mystery. 
They  could  not  quite  understand  him,  for  they  did  not 
know  what  to  think  of  a  white  man  who  had  no  wish 
to  shoot  them,  or  cheat  them,  or  lie  to  them,  or,  indeed, 
any  purpose  but  to  do  them  good. 

This  practical  exhibition  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  went 
hand  in  hand  with  preaching  the  Gospel.  He  entered 
into  their  humble  life,  and  taught  them  the  industries 
which  they  needed  most ;  how  to  drain  the  land,  and 
cultivate  the  soil,  that  they  might  have  little  garden 
patches.  And  not  only  had  he  the  knowledge  of  an 
English  husbandman,  but  he  seemed  to  be  a  mechanical 
genius,  who  knew  a  little  of  everything.  He  put  up  a 
saw-mill,  and  showed  the  natives  how  to  work  it,  so  as 
to  turn  their  trees  into  boards,  and  build  neat  little 
houses  to  take  the  place  of  their  dirty  wigwams.  He 
showed  them  how  to  make  wooden  clogs  to  protect  their 
naked  feet,  before  they  could  afford  to  buy  leather  shoes ; 
how  to  make  ropes  for  their  tents  and  their  boats ;  to 
make  casks  and  barrels  for  their  fish.  He  taught  the 
women  how  to  sew  and  make  shawls  and  blankets. 
Here  were  all  the  elements  of  civilization,  to  which  he 


THE   STORY   OF   METLAKAHTLA  155 

added  the  ornamentals  in  a  brass  band  and  a  fire  bri- 
gade. And  to  have  not  only  the  form,  but  the  reality 
of  a  government,  he  had  a  council  of  natives  to  regulate 
the  affairs  of  the  town,  and  elders  to  keep  an  eye  on 
religious  work  and  the  morals  of  the  community,  the 
entrance  of  which  into  the  hearts  of  these  poor  children 
of  the  forest  was  made  easier  by  having  before  them 
such  an  example  of  Christian  character.  They  saw  that 
he  loved  them,  not  merely  because  he  was  a  kind-hearted 
man,  but  because  of  some  spiritual  influence  that  had 
taken  possession  of  him,  because  a  Higher  Love  had  over- 
flowed into  his  own  great  heart.  Soon  he  had  the  nucleus 
of  a  little  church,  which  grew  and  grew  till  it  included 
the  whole  settlement  and  required  a  tabernacle,  which 
was  supplied  by  the  willing  gifts  and  labors  of  all,  and 
in  which  was  gathered  every  Sabbath  day  a  body  of 
Christian  believers  as  attentive  and  devout  as  any  that 
gathers  in  any  village  church  of  New  England.  Indeed, 
it  seemed  as  if  the  little  settlement  had  been  formed  on 
the  model  of  a  New  England  village,  in  which  all  things 
revolve  round  the  two  foci  of  the  school-house  and  the 
meeting-house.  That  such  a  thing  of  beauty  should 
blossom  in  the  heart  of  the  wilderness,  was  the  wonder 
and  amazement  of  all  beholders.  In  1876  Lord  Dufferin, 
then  Governor-General  of  Canada,  made  a  visit  to  the 
northwest  coast,  and  on  his  return  to  Victoria  gave  the 
result  of  his  observations  to  the  Provincial  Government, 
in  which  he  said  : 

"I  have  traversed  the  entire  coast  of  British  Columbia,  from  its 
southern  extremity  to  Alaska.  ...  I  have  visited  Mr.  Duncan's 
wonderful  settlement  at  Metlakahtla,  and  the  interesting  Method- 
ist Mission  at  Fort  Simpson,  and  have  thus  been  enabled  to  realize 
what  scenes  of  primitive  peace  and  innocence,  of  idyllic  beauty, 


156  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

and  material  comfort,  can  be  presented  by  the  stalwart  men  and 
comely  maidens  of  an  Indian  community  under  the  wise  adminis- 
tration of  a  judicious  and  devoted  Christian  missionary.  I  have 
seen  the  Indians  in  all  phases  of  their  existence,  from  the  half-naked 
savage,  perched,  like  a  bird  of  prey,  in  a  red  blanket  upon  a  rock, 
trying  to  catch  his  miserable  dinner  of  fish,  to  the  neat  maiden 
in  the  school  at  Metlakahtla,  as  modest  and  as  well  dressed  as 
any  clergyman's  daughter  in  an  English  parish.  .  .  .  Raise 
your  thirty  thousand  Indians  to  the  level  Mr.  Duncan  has  taught 
us  they  can  be  brought,  and  you  will  have  added  an  enormous 
amount  of  vital  power  to  your  present  strength." 

For  the  good  order  of  his  little  community  Mr.  Duncan 
laid  down  a  few  simple  rules,  which  were  so  plain  that 
all  could  understand  them ;  but  as  there  are  several,  the 
special  reason  for  which  may  not  be  perceived  by  those 
not  familiar  with  Indian  life,  they  are  explained  in  a  few 
words  in  brackets : 

1.  Give  up  Indian  deviltry.     [Their  old  cannibalism  and  devil 
worship.] 

2.  Cease  calling  conjurers  when  sick.     [The  medicine-men,  who 
among  all  Indian  tribes  are  at  the  bottom  of  their  superstitions 
and  their  horrible  practices.] 

3.  Cease   giving   away   property   for   display.      [This   seems   a 
strange  rule,  but  it  was  one  of  the  first  importance,  as  it  was  their 
custom  to  give  what  they  called  a  potlach,  a  huge  feast,  in  which 
they  went  to  every  extreme  of  gluttony  and  drunkenness,   and 
ended  by  giving  away  everything  they  had  in  the  world.] 

4.  Cease  gambling. 

5.  Cease  painting  your  faces. 

6.  Cease  drinking  liquor. 

7.  Rest  on  the  Sabbatli  day. 

8.  Attend  religious  services  regularly. 

9.  Send  your  children  to  school. 

10.  Be  cleanly  in  person.     ["Cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness."] 

11.  Be  industrious.     ["Satan  finds  some  mischief  still  for  idle 
hands  to  do."] 


THE  STORY  OF   METLAKAHTLA  157 

12.  Be   peaceful.     [Indians   in   their    natural   state   are   always 
fighting.] 

13.  Be  honest  in  trade.     [Mr.  Duncan's  Indians  are  known  all 
over  Alaska  as  men  whose  word  can  be  relied  on  ;  they  are  hard 
workers,  and  will  take  only  what  is  their  just  due.] 

14.  Build   neat  houses.      [A  clean,    decent   home  is  one   step 
towards  living  a  decent  life.] 

15.  Pay  the  village  taxes. 

Here  was  a  model  community,  founded  on  the  highest 
religious  principles  united  with  practical  wisdom — what 
an  old  English  writer  calls  "  plain,  roundabout  common 
sense."  Spiritual  in  its  origin  and  its  motive,  it  was  not 
too  ethereal  for  the  daily  round  of  common  life.  In  a 
word,  it  was  Christianity  combined  with  civilization,  where 
the  two  forces  worked  for,  and  not  against,  each  other, 
with  the  result  that  all  men  dwelt  together  in  peace  and 
quietness,  serving  God  and  doing  good  to  one  another. 

But  this  was  a  state  of  things  too  ideal  to  last.  As 
the  fame  of  this  Christian  colony  went  back  to  England, 
it  seemed  almost  a  reflection  upon  the  National  Church 
that  so  great  a  result  should  be  achieved  by  one  who  was 
not  a  priest,  nor  even  a  deacon ;  and  accordingly  a  bishop 
was  sent  out  to  give  the  faithful  worker  the  benefit  of 
his  supervision.  Of  the  man  chosen  for  this  office  we 
know  nothing ;  he  may  have  been  a  learned  scholar  and 
a  devout  ecclesiastic  ;  but  it  is  not  probable  that  he  knew 
much  about  Indians,  or  was  able  to  give  instruction  to 
one  who  had  ventured  his  life  among  cannibals.  Ven- 
erable as  he  might  be  in  his  episcopal  robes  in  an  Eng- 
lish cathedral,  his  canonicals  did  not  add  to  his  influ- 
ence among  these  children  of  the  forest.  The  very  fact 
that  he  assumed  authority  over  one  to  whom  the  people 
had  been  accustomed  to  look  up  as  their  best  friend, 
while  it  was  a  reflection  upon  the  latter,  did  not  attract 


158  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

the  people  to  the  former,  so  that  between  the  two  the 
influence  of  the  mission  was  injured  rather  than  helped 
by  the  new  arrival.  The  attempt  to  carry  out  a  full 
English  ritual  in  the  backwoods  was  about  as  striking  an 
illustration  of  the  want  of  common  sense  as  could  be 
imagined.  The  missionary  humbly  submitted  that  what 
was  edifying  in  old  Christian  communities,  might  be  a 
cause  of  offence  to  these  poor  natives,  who  were  but  just 
reclaimed  from  savagery.  To  administer  the  holy  sacra- 
ment with  wine  was  certainly  according  to  the  original 
institution,  but  was  there  not  prudence  to  be  used  in 
passing  the  cup  to  one  in  whose  blood  it  would  stir  up  a 
fire  that  he  could  not  resist  ?  And  further,  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacrament  the  priest  is  accustomed,  in 
offering  the  elements,  to  speak  of  those  who  receive  them 
as  "  eating  the  body  and  drinking  the  blood "  of  our 
Lord ;  words  which  have  a  divine  origin  and  a  sacred 
meaning,  but  which  these  ignorant  people  might  inter- 
pret literally  as  approving  and  commending  cannibal- 
ism! 

But  in  vain  was  argument  wasted  on  the  bishop  ;  he 
insisted  on  the  exact  words,  so  that  the  strange  spectacle 
was  presented  of  the  poor  missionary  being  obliged  to  go 
among  his  people  on  week-days  to  explain  away  what 
the  bishop  had  taught  on  Sunday.  At  length  the  situa- 
tion became  so  intolerable  that  one  or  the  other  must 
retire.  The  bishop  would  not  move,  and  the  missionary 
was  given  to  understand  that  if  he  migrated,  taking  his 
people  with  him,  they  left  behind  them  all  that  they  had 
created  by  the  labor  of  years.  This  was  a  hard  alterna- 
tive, but  the  loss  of  their  goods  was  nothing  compared 
with  liberty  ;  and  they  were  ready  to  make  the  sacrifice. 
In  seeking  a  new  place  of  refuge  it  was  important  to  get 


THE   STORY   OF   METLAKAHTLA  159 

beyond  the  British  dominions,  that  they  might  not  be 
subjected  to  a  repetition  of  their  sad  experience.  Ac- 
cordingly, Mr.  Duncan  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Washing- 
ton to  ask  for  a  new  home  in  one  of  the  islands  which 
belonged  to  the  United  States,  and  obtained  permission 
to  occupy  Annette  Island,  some  seventy  miles  north. 
The  change  of  site  was  an  improvement.  One  who  vis- 
ited both  says :  "It  is  better  every  way  than  the  old 
Metlakahtla,  situated  on  a  beautiful  plateau,  nearly  level 
land  extending  to  one  thousand  acres,  with  clean,  shady 
beaches  on  three  sides,  which  are  highly  appreciated  by 
the  Indians  as  affording  facilities  for  launching  and  haul- 
ing up  canoes,  as  well  as  for  landing  and  shipping  fish, 
wood,  and  other  commodities.  The  soil  is  capable  of 
cultivation,  when  drained  and  cleared.  The  food  supply 
is  abundant,  venison,  salmon,  and  halibut  to  be  had  al- 
most at  their  very  doors."  . 

To  this  island  of  refuge,  which  Providence  seemed  to 
have  reserved  for  them,  the  missionary  removed  with 
about  a  thousand  of  his  people,  leaving  the  bishop  to 
preside  over  the  remnant  that  remained  behind. 

Of  course,  the  work  of  rebuilding  their  little  Jerusalem 
was  slow.  It  was  a  hard  struggle  to  begin  at  the  foun- 
dation and  re-create  all  that  had  been  destroyed.  But 
willing  hands  make  light  work,  and  in  due  time  rose  a 
second  Metlakahtla,  more  beautiful  than  the  first,  in 
which  New  England  is  reproduced  somewhat  as  it  was  in 
the  good  old  days  of  our  fathers.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  have 
been  formed  on  the  model  of  Puritan  simplicity,  and  I 
will  venture  to  say  that  there  is  not  within  a  hundred 
miles  of  Plymouth  Rock  a  village  in  which  the  Sabbath 
is  more  strictly  observed  ;  where  there  is  less  of  drunk- 
enness or  immorality  of  any  kind ;  where  the  people  are 


160  OUK  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

more  sober,  temperate,  orderly  and  Christian,  than  in 
this  community  of  reclaimed  savages  and  cannibals; 
and  to-day  Annette  Island  in  the  far  north,  where  win- 
ter reigns  over  half  the  year,  is  fairer  to  the  eye  of  a 
thoughtful  observer  than  any  island  of  palms  in  the 
Southern  Sea,  with  its  rich  tropical  vegetation. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

PUGET   SOUND — SEATTLE   AND   TACOMA 

IT  would  be  a  sad  come-down  for  pilgrims  to  the 
Pacific  if  they  should  find  an  abrupt  change  on  leaving 
Alaska ;  if  the  bold  scenery  should  suddenly  become  flat 
and  tame ;  if  the  mountains  should  sink  down  to  hills, 
and  at  last  die  away,  as  if  the  soft  murmurs  of  the  sea 
had  put  to  sleep  the  restless  spirit  of  the  volcano,  and 
the  low-lying,  sandy  beach  should  be  as  smooth  and  un- 
broken as  the  ocean  in  a  calm.  That  tameness  belongs 
more  to  our  eastern  coast,  along  which  one  may  sail  for 
a  thousand  miles  without  seeing  a  mountain,  or  seeing  it 
only  in  the  distance.  On  the  Atlantic  the  mountains 
keep  in  the  background,  as  if  they  were  afraid  to  show 
their  heads,  or  encroach  upon  the  mighty  deep,  or  even 
to  look  down  upon  it  with  a  haughty  crest.  The  land 
seems  to  bow  down  to  the  water,  as  if  it  humbly  asked 
the  waves  to  dash  over  it,  and  literally  drown  it  in  the 
depths  of  the  sea. 

But  on  the  Pacific  all  this  is  reversed.  It  is  given  to 
the  land  to  assert  the  majesty  of  nature.  Power  is  en- 
throned on  the  mountain  tops.  Not  only  is  a  mountain 
chain  always  in  sight,  as  one  sails  along  the  coast,  but 
they  crowd  one  upon  another,  pushing  forward  to  the 
verge  of  the  continent,  presenting  a  mountain  wall  like 
that  of  the  Himalayas,  only  that  the  latter  runs  east  and 
11 


162  OUR   WESTERN    ARCHIPELAGO 

west,  cutting  off  the  peninsula  of  India  from  Central 
Asia ;  while  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  it  spans  the 
equator  in  one  continuous  chain  from  Mount  Saint  Elias 
to  the  Andes  of  South  America. 

And  so  we  found  that  coming  back  from  Alaska  was 
not  a  descent,  but  only  passing  from  glory  to  glory.  The 
first  cry  of  land — that  is,  of  land  in  the  United  States — 
was  at  the  sight  of  Mount  Baker,  with  its  head  crowned 
with  snow.  Touching  at  Victoria  seemed  like  coming 
home,  for  here  we  got  our  letters,  and  were  again  in  com- 
munication with  the  world  we  had  left  behind.  And 
even  of  Victoria  itself,  the  second  sight  was  better  than 
the  first,  as  it  renewed  and  intensified  the  former  im- 
pression. Victoria  has  the  double  outlook  assigned  to 
the  old  Greek  battle  plain : 

"The  mountains  look  on  Marathon, 
And  Marathon  looks  on  the  sea," 

only  that  here  the  mountains  and  the  sea  are  not  sepa- 
rated, but  are  parts  of  one  whole  (for  the  mountains 
divide  the  seas  and  the  seas  divide  the  mountains),  form- 
ing one  glorious  panorama  that  stretches  all  round  the 
horizon. 

From  Victoria  it  is  but  an  hour  or  two's  sail  across  the 
Straits  of  Fuca,  and,  as  it  was  just  at  evening,  the  sun, 
that  was  going  down  in  the  Pacific,  lighted  up  the 
Olympic  Eange,  as  it  lights  up  the  Bernese  Oberland  in 
Switzerland. 

In  the  evening  we  touched  at  Port  Townsend,  which, 
if  it  does  not  as  yet  take  rank  among  the  cities  of  the 
western  coast,  by  reason  either  of  its  population  or  its 
wealth,  has  a  very  great  prospective  value  for  commerce, 


PUGET  SOUND— SEATTLE  AND  TACOMA  163 

as  well  as  a  strategic  importance  in  case  of  war  from  its 
position  at  the  head  of  Puget  Sound. 

Puget  Sound  is  a  body  of  water  which  has  some  pecul- 
iar features.  The  only  drawback  to  it  as  a  station  for 
ships  outgoing  or  incoming  is  that  it  is  in  some  places 
too  deep  for  safe  anchorage,  a  depth  for  which  it  is  not 
easy  to  give  the  geological  explanation.  Possibly  its  bed 
is  the  crater  of  an  extinct  volcano,  or  was  formed  by 
some  depression,  like  that  of  the  Yosemite,  so  that  the 
waters  that  flow  over  it  have  almost  the  depths  of 
the  ocean  itself.  But  these  decrease  as  you  approach  the 
shores,  till  the  woods  and  the  waters  meet,  and  the  gentle 
slope  of  the  beach  glides  off  into  better  soundings,  and 
the  forests  cast  their  soft  shadows  on  the  tranquil  deep. 
Here  the  anchors  hold  fast,  and  the  ships,  great  or  small, 
ride  in  safety.  Thus  protected,  there  will  be  many  little 
ports,  as  well  as  fishing  stations,  all  round  this  inland  sea. 

At  the  same  time  Puget  Sound  may  serve  as  a  rendez- 
vous for  our  navy.  Nature  has  made  it  easy  for  defence 
by  a  narrow  passage,  which  can  be  sealed  up  so  as  to 
make  it  a  land-locked  harbor.  Coming  from  the  Straits 
of  Fuca  it  is  entered  by  what  may  be  called  its  throat, 
which,  though  four  miles  long,  is  but  one  mile  wide, 
and  can  easily  be  fortified  so  as  to  be  impassable  even 
for  ships  of  war.  Those  who  have  visited  Constanti- 
nople will  remember  the  "  Castles  of  Europe  and  Asia," 
which  face  each  other  from  the  two  sides  of  the  Dar- 
danelles, to  stop  any  ship  that  has  not  the  right  to  pass. 
With  the  same  ease  could  we  put  castles,  or  forts  (such 
as  now  command  the  Narrows  in  New  York  Harbor), 
at  the  entrance  to  Puget  Sound,  to  forbid  trespass  on  our 
American  waters. 

But  just  now  I  would  rather  not  talk  of  defences  and 


164  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

armaments.  "We  do  not  need  any  Gibraltar  in  the 
Pacific,  where  we  have  no  enemies  and  no  rivals.  Nor 
would  it  exalt  my  national  pride  to  see  Puget  Sound 
barred  with  "  Iron  Gates."  Rather  let  its  gates  be 
thrown  wide  open,  that  it  may  be  a  place  of  refuge  for 
the  storm-bound  ships  of  all  nations,  who  would  seek  for 
shelter  from  the  perils  of  the  sea. 

But  all  speculations  as  to  the  future  were  set  aside 
by  the  living  present  as  we  drew  up  the  next  morning 
alongside  the  wharf  at  Seattle. 

Seattle  !  I  had  heard  the  name  before,  and  that  was 
the  beginning  and  the  end  of  my  intelligence.  But 
when  I  went  on  deck  to  take  a  first  view  from  the  water, 
I  perceived  that  it  was  not  exactly  like  the  ports  in 
Alaska,  where  the  "  shipping "  is  chiefly  Indian  canoes, 
but  that  it  was  in  truth  a  city,  and  "  no  mean  city " 
either,  with  wharves  at  which  ships  and  steamers  were 
loading  and  unloading,  with  all  the  signs  of  a  busy,  bus- 
tling population.  Such  surprises  come  rather  frequently 
on  this  coast,  and  I  find  that  the  best  way  to  get  knowl- 
edge is  to  begin  by  confessing  ignorance,  and  opening 
our  eyes  very  wide  to  see  and  our  ears  to  listen  ;  and  I 
frankly  own  up  that  I  went  ashore  at  Seattle  knowing 
absolutely  nothing  about  it  but  the  name  !  And  I  should 
have  come  away  not  much  wiser,  or,  at  least,  with  but  a 
partial  and  limited  acquaintance,  but  for  the  courtesy 
of  a  gentleman  whom  we  met  on  the  Queen,  who  lives 
here,  and  who,  in  an  hour  after  we  touched  the  wharf, 
appeared  with  his  carriage,  drawn  by  spirited  horses, 
with  which  he  whirled  us  about  the  city  in  a  few  hours, 
and  gave  us  a  larger  view  of  what  it  is  now,  and  what  it 
will  be  in  the  future,  than  I  could  have  got  in  weeks 
groping  about  alone. 


PUGET  SOUND — SEATTLE  AND  TACOMA  165 

We  did  not  need  to  go  far  to  observe  the  way  in  which 
it  is  built,  wherein  it  is  in  contrast  with  most  Western 
cities  (at  least  for  the  first  years  of  their  existence),  where 
the  streets  are  ill-paved,  if  paved  at  all,  and  lined  with 
cheap  frame  houses.  But  Seattle  is  a  city  which  "  hath 
foundations."  The  streets  are  well  paved,  and,  as  we 
drove  into  the  centre  of  business,  we  looked  about  with 
surprise  at  the  massive  public  buildings,  as  well  as  the 
banks  and  stores.  This  solid  architecture  it  owes  to  a 
fire,  which,  five  years  ago,  laid  its  business  quarter  in 
ashes.  At  the  moment  it  seemed  as  if  the  city  had  been 
swept  out  of  existence,  and  could  never  rise  again.  But, 
as  in  the  case  of  Chicago,  what  appeared  to  be  its  great- 
est calamity,  proved  its  greatest  blessing.  The  indomi- 
table spirit  of  the  people  rose  above  disaster,  and  the  city 
that  rose  out  of  the  ashes  was  far  more  solid  and  far  more 
beautiful  than  its  predecessor.  As  we  were  about  to  ex- 
tend our  drive,  in  and  out  of  the  town,  we  had  the  good 
fortune  to  find  Dr.  Allison,  and  laid  hold  on  him,  and 
forced  him  to  come  up  into  the  chariot  and  keep  us  com- 
pany. He  took  us  to  see  his  own  large  and  beautiful 
church,  in  which  he  fully  expects  to  receive  the  General 
Assembly  when  next  it  holds  its  annual  gathering  on 
the  Pacific.  Seattle  is  a  city  of  churches  of  different 
denominations,  all  of  which  would  join  heartily  to  wel- 
come the  great  Presbyterian  Sanhedrim.  But  when 
shall  these  things  be  ?  Not  next  year,  nor  the  year  after. 
But  we  may  hope  that  it  will  be  before  this  century  has 
expired.  And  may  we  be  there  to  see  ! 

Nor  did  Dr.  Allison  fail  to  point  out  the  site  of  the 
coming  University,  in  which  he  interested  a  good  many 
friends  at  the  East  a  year  or  two  since.  The  site  is 
magnificent — a  bold  headland  overlooking  Puget  Sound 


166  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

— a  position  as  commanding  as  that  of  Robert  College 
on  the  Bosphorus,  though  the  university  has  not  yet 
taken  possession.  It  has  started  modestly  in  a  town  in 
the  interior,  where  its  beginnings  are  small,  but  not  a 
bit  smaller  than  were  those  of  Harvard  and  Yale ;  and 
by  and  by,  when  it  takes  possession  of  its  Hill  of  Zion, 
and  all  its  lamps  of  science  and  philosophy  are  "  trimmed 
and  burning,"  it  will  be  a  lighthouse  of  learning  that 
will  cast  its  rays  far  and  wide  along  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  commanding  site  in  the  sur- 
roundings of  Seattle.  The  city  is  girdled  with  hills.  This 
lay  of  the  land  would  be  the  despair  of  road-makers 
who  should  wish  to  lay  out  a  city  four-square,  with  the 
streets  all  running  at  right  angles,  and  on  a  level  sur- 
face. And  yet  this  very  irregularity  offers  to  architects 
and  landscape  gardeners  the  opportunity  to  produce 
their  most  beautiful  effects.  In  this  morning's  drive  we 
came  abruptly  on  many  a  high  place  that  would  be  a 
fitting  site  for  a  stately  mansion,  with  a  lookout  over 
land  and  sea;  with  many  a  quiet  nook  nestled  in  the 
recesses  of  the  hills,  where  a  poet,  or  painter,  or  scholar 
might  shut  himself  in  from  the  world,  as  if  he  were  in 
some  airy  nest  on  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Naples. 

After  a  drive  of  four  hours  we  were  not  sorry  for  a 
noonday  rest  at  the  Rainier  House,  which  from  the  hill- 
top commands  a  view  of  miles  up  and  down  Puget  Sound, 
and  to  the  mountains  on  the  west,  where  the  sun  goes 
down. 

But  the  sun  is  not  down  yet,  and  our  work  is  but  half 
done.  "  "When  you  go  to  Seattle,"  said  a  friend,  "  do 
not  fail  to  see  "Washington  Lake."  But  it  is  several 
miles  out  of  town.  Yet  for  all  these  difficulties  a  way  is 


PUGET   SOUND— SEATTLE   AND  TACOMA  167 

provided ;  for  electric  cars  or  cable  cars  are  running 
everywhere,  not  only  through  the  streets,  but  up  hill 
and  down  dale  with  a  swiftness  that  almost  takes  one's 
breath  away,  and  in  half  an  hour  we  were  looking  into 
the  placid  face  of  a  sheet  of  water  as  beautiful  as  ever 
was  embosomed  in  the  hills.  And  when  we  reluctantly 
turned  our  backs  upon  it,  it  was  only  to  take  another 
long  ride  to  another  lake,  with  a  grove  on  its  border, 
where  parties  from  the  city  camp  in  the  shade,  or  skim 
the  water  in  their  light  shells,  forgetting  all  the  hard 
labor,  and  all  the  folly  and  the  sin,  of  this  weary  and 
wicked  world. 

But  all  things  have  an  end ;  the  day  so  rich  in  sights 
and  experiences  left  us  but  an  hour  to  finish  our  last 
view,  and  reach  the  boat  for  Tacoma. 

It  is  but  thirty  miles  from  Seattle  to  Tacoma,  so  that 
they  may  be  spoken  of  as  sister  cities ;  yet  even  sisters 
are  sometimes  jealous  of  each  other,  though  both  should 
be  passing  fair  to  the  eye  of  a  stranger ;  and,  indeed, 
it  sometimes  happens  that  the  more  beautiful  they  are,  the 
more  jealous  they  are.  To  this  strange  law  of  contraries 
these  two  fair  sisters  are  no  exception.  Of  course,  I  am 
not  going  to  take  the  side  of  either,  especially  when  I 
can  in  all  sincerity  praise  both.  It  is  said  that  Daniel 
Webster,  when  asked  which  play  of  Shakspeare  he  liked 
the  best,  answered,  "  The  one  I  have  read  last "  ;  and  such 
would  very  likely  be  the  impression  upon  a  stranger  here: 
his  preference,  if  he  could  have  one  at  all,  would  be 
for  that  which  he  had  seen  last,  and  which  therefore 
remained  freshest  in  his  memory.  For  my  part,  I  can 
say  truly : 

"How  happy  could  I  be  with  either, 
Were  t'other  dear  charmer  away." 


168  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

Tacoma  is  more  of  an  Eastern  city,  as  it  was  started 
by  Eastern  enterprise  (when  it  was  fixed  upon  as  the  ter- 
minus of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad),  built  largely  by 
Eastern  capital,  and  settled  by  Eastern  people.  Its  posi- 
tion is  very  much  like  that  of  Seattle,  on  a  hillside  rising 
in  terraces  one  above  another,  along  which  are  hundreds 
of  beautiful  homes,  not  very  costly,  as  if  built  for  show, 
but  in  excellent  taste,  each  standing  in  the  centre  of  a 
plot  of  ground,  where  the  green  lawn  with  flowers  and 
shrubbery  make  the  most  beautiful  setting  for  a  home ; 
and  each  commanding  an  outlook  over  land  and  sea  as 
charming  to  the  eye  as  any  on  the  Hudson  or  along  the 
New  England  coast. 

The  country  about  Tacoma  is  almost,  if  not  quite,  equal 
to  Florida  or  California  in  the  abundance  of  fruit  and 
flowers.  And  all  this  efflorescence  of  beauty  has  been 
wrought  by  the  hand  of  man  upon  land  reclaimed  from 
utter  desolation.  Not  far  from  Tacoma  is  a  strip  of  land 
— I  know  not  of  how  many  thousands  of  acres — lying 
along  the  river  Yakima,  which  has  been  an  alkaline 
desert,  on  which  grew  only  sage  grass.  It  was  inhabited 
only  by  a  tribe  of  Indians,  some  twelve  hundred  in  all. 
But  the  white  man  came  with  his  magic  wand,  like 
Moses  with  his  rod,  and  struck  the  rock,  and  the  waters 
gushed  forth.  Artesian  wells  brought  the  water  to  the 
surface,  and  this  irrigation  of  the  land,  with  the  burning 
sun  that  poured  down  upon  it,  brought  forth  the  golden 
growth  of  fruits  and  flowers  that  overflows  the  markets 
of  Tacoma. 

The  home  feeling  of  an  Eastern  visitor  is  increased  by 
the  sight  now  and  then  of  a  face  which  brings  back  the 
associations  of  other  years.  Such  was  the  kindly  face 
of  Mr.  S.  P.  Holmes,  of  the  old  firm  of  Bowen,  Me- 


PUGET  SOUND— SEATTLE  AND  TACOMA  169 

Namee  &  Co.,  in  New  York,  who  had  long  been  its  Euro- 
pean correspondent,  living  for  years  in  Paris.  How  long 
ago  it  was  I  knew  him,  I  am  afraid  to  tell ;  but  now 
he  has  not  only  returned  to  America,  but  to  its  western 
coast,  where  he  finds  the  air  and  the  climate  softer  than 
in  our  rugged  East.  But  though  he  has  changed  his 
skies,  he  has  not  changed  his  heart;  he  is  as  gentle  in 
manner  as  in  the  old  days,  and  gave  me  the  same  warm 
grasp  of  the  hand,  and  took  me  about  the  town  and  to 
the  environs,  to  show  me  how  beautiful  it  all  was.  And 
then  the  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  took 
me  in  hand  to  show  me  some  of  the  public  buildings. 
The  Court-house  is  a  structure  that  would  be  an  orna- 
ment to  any  city,  East  or  "West.  Not  the  least  pleasant 
room  in  it  was  in  an  upper  story  devoted  to  an  art 
school,  furnished  with  the  ancient  statues,  such  as  the 
Dying  Gladiator,  and  copies  of  the  great  masters ;  where 
a  dozen  or  twenty  young  ladies  were  busy  with  their  pen- 
cils, but  all  hushed  and  quiet,  since  no  one  speaks  above 
a  whisper,  so  absorbed  are  they  in  their  beautiful  art. 

But,  with  all  these  attractions,  I  found  the  people  of 
Tacoma  a  good  deal  depressed.  Its  sudden  growth  gave 
it  a  great  boom,  from  which  it  was  now  experiencing  a 
reaction,  and  they  were  despondent,  as  if  it  would  not 
recover  from  the  setback  in  years;  to  which  I  answered  : 
"Nonsense !  Every  city  has  its  booms  and  its  setbacks ; 
I  have  seen  a  dozen  in  New  York  in  the  forty  years 
that  I  have  lived  there.  Look  at  Chicago !  "When  it  had 
the  great  fire,  people  thought  it  had  gone  up  in  smoke ; 
but  it  rose  out  of  its  ashes,  not  only  more  beautiful,  but 
richer  and  stronger  than  ever,  till  now  it  is  the  second 
city  on  the  continent,  and  may  yet  be  the  first ! " 

After  all  these  excursions  were  over,  as  the  evening 


170  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

caine  on,  I  sat  on  the  broad  veranda  of  the  hotel,  which 
looks  out  upon  Puget  Sound,  and  tried  to  sum  up  the 
impressions  of  the  day,  and  think  whereunto  this  city 
might  grow.  As  we  came  up  to  the  wharf  the  evening 
before,  I  had  noticed  a  large  steamship  lying  alongside, 
which  was  bound  for  China,  whereupon  I  gave  a  per- 
emptory judgment  on  the  folly  of  such  preparation 
for  a  commerce  that  did  not  exist !  Commerce  with 
China !  There  is  no  commerce  (except  in  tea,  and  that 
could  easily  be  carried  in  a  few  ships),  nor,  for  that  mat- 
ter, with  all  Eastern  Asia.  When  I  crossed  the  Pacific 
in  1876,  we  sailed  on  and  on  for  seventeen  days,  and  did 
not  see  a  single  sail  till  just  as  we  were  entering  the 
Golden  Gate !  Since  then  there  has  sprung  up  a  little 
trade  with  Japan,  but  chiefly  in  knicknacks  and  lacquer 
ware !  "  What  do  you  want  of  ships,"  I  asked  almost 
indignantly,  "  when  you  have  nothing  to  buy  and  noth- 
ing to  sell?  Is  it  that  you  want  to  throw  away  your 
money  ?  Well,  the  Pacific  Ocean  is  big  enough  to  hold 
it  all,  where  your  wealth  will  be  literally  drowned  in  the 
depths  of  the  sea !  " 

After  this  explosion,  I  must  confess  that  I  felt  rather 
cheap  when  the  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
answered  mildly  that  there  had  sprung  up  a  great  trade 
on  the  Pacific,  in  which  there  was  now  an  exchange  of 
products,  and  that,  instead  of  being  merely  importers, 
we  were  now  exporters ;  that  instead  of  these  great  ships 
going  empty,  "  they  could  not  carry  the  freights  that 
were  pressed  upon  them."  "  And  what  do  you  export? " 
I  asked.  "  Wheat ! "  That  was  a  revelation.  Wheat 
is  a  new  diet  for  John  Chinaman.  When  I  was  in  his 
country,  he  did  not  even  know  the  taste.  If  you  had 
seen,  as  I  have  in  the  shops  of  Canton,  half  a  dozen  men 


PTJGET   SOUND— SEATTLE  AND  TACOMA  171 

sitting  round  one  small  table,  plying  their  chopsticks  in  a 
single  bowl  that  answered  for  all,  you  would  see  that 
rice,  and  not  bread,  is  the  staff  of  life.  But  now  at  last 
poor  John  Chinaman  is  to  have  a  "square  meal"  of 
American  bread !  That  does  not  seem  to  be  saying 
much,  but  it  is  saying  a  great  deal.  Good  food  is  the 
first  condition  of  good  health,  and  good  health  tends  to 
good  morals.  Now  that  this  export  has  begun,  it  is  not 
likely  to  be  stopped  even  by  war ;  indeed,  the  demand 
may  be  increased  ;  and  with  this,  improved  physical  con- 
dition, with  better  food  to  eat,  there  may  be  a  general 
"  betterment "  in  manners  and  morals ;  in  brighter  and 
happier  homes ;  so  that  at  last  we  may  say  for  poor  old 
China  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  draweth  nigh  ! 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   STATE   OF   WASHINGTON 

I  FIND  that  I  have  on  my  hands  more  than  I  bar- 
gained for.  I  set  out  to  write  a  few  light  sketches 
of  this  western  coast,  and  lo,  I  am  amid  the  foundations 
of  an  empire  !  In  my  young  days  I  used  to  read  about 
"  the  continuous  woods  " 

"Where  rolls  the  Oregon, 
And  hears  no  sound  save  its  own  dashings ;  " 

but  now,  as  I  listen,  I  hear  another  sound  than  that  of 
its  own  dashings — the  sound  of  the  wheels  of  industry  ; 
while  far  off  in  the  valley — and  not  so  very  far  off  either 
— there  swells  a  muffled  roar  in  the  tramp,  tramp,  of  an 
exceeding  great  army,  coming  to  take  possession. 

Historical  events  are  always  more  striking  when  they 
are  put  in  contrast.  I  can  remember  Avhen  all  this 
northwest  coast  was  set  down  on  the  maps  as  unex- 
plored, a  terra  incognita,  of  which  the  great  body  of 
our  countrymen  knew  little  and  cared  less.  Indeed, 
whenever  it  came  up  in  Congress,  it  was  a  favorite  sub- 
ject of  ridicule.  Senators  and  Representatives  thought 
it  of  so  little  value  that  it  was  hardly  worth  firing  a  shot 
to  keep  it  from  England,  or  any  other  foreign  power, 
that  should  have  the  ambition  to  go  in  and  possess  it. 
The  Rocky  Mountains  were  the  natural  boundary  of  the 


THE  STATE   OF  WASHINGTON  173 

United  States,  beyond  which  the  country  was  hardly  fit 
for  human  habitation — at  least  for  civilized  communities 
— and  ought  to  be  left  to  its  natural  occupants,  the  wild 
Indians  and  the  grizzly  bears  !  In  1844  a  bill  was  before 
the  United  States  Senate  to  establish  a  mail  line  from 
Missouri  to  the  Pacific  coast,  on  which  Daniel  Webster 
spoke  as  follows : 

' '  "What  do  we  want  with  the  vast,  worthless  area,  this  region  of 
savages  and  wild  beasts,  of  deserts,  of  shifting  sands  and  whirl- 
winds of  dust,  of  cactus  and  prairie-dogs  ?  To  what  use  could  we 
ever  hope  to  put  these  great  deserts,  or  these  endless  mountain 
ranges,  impenetrable,  and  covered  to  their  base  with  eternal  snow  ? 
What  can  we  ever  hope  to  do  with  the  western  coast,  a  coast  of 
three  thousand  miles,  rock-bound,  cheerless,  and  uninviting,  and 
not  a  harbor  on  it  ?  What  use  have  we  for  such  a  country  ?  Mr. 
President,  I  will  never  vote  one  cent  from  the  public  treasury  to 
place  the  Pacific  Coast  one  inch  nearer  to  Boston  than  it  is  now." 

Nor  was  Mr.  Webster  alone  in  this ;  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Calhoun,  and  other  leaders  of  the  Senate,  were  of  the 
same  mind. 

But  a  generation  has  passed,  and  a  star  has  risen  out 
of  the  west — one  of  the  most  brilliant  on  the  horizon  of 
our  country.  The  vacant  space  on  the  Pacific  coast  has 
ceased  to  be  a  Territory,  and  as  a  State  ranks  among 
the  largest  between  the  two  oceans!  Here  are  a  few 
figures  :  Pennsylvania  covers  forty -three  thousand  square 
miles ;  New  York,  forty-seven  thousand  ;  and  Washing- 
ton, seventy  thousand  !  California  makes  a  still  larger 
figure  on  the  map;  it  has  more  than  twice  as  many 
square  miles ;  indeed,  it  is  second  in  the  Union  only  to 
Texas.  But  States  are  counted  rich  not  by  the  space 
they  cover,  but  by  their  natural  products  in  agriculture 
or  mines.  California  is  made  rich  by  its  gold  and  silver, 


174  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

and  Pennsylvania  richer  still  by  its  enormous  beds  of 
coal.  Where  does  the  State  of  "Washington  come  in? 
Its  people  tell  us  that  it  has  more  coal  than  Penn- 
sylvania, more  iron  than  Alabama,  and  more  lumber 
than  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  put  together !  This 
would  make  Washington  richer  by  nature  even  than 
California  (although,  not  having  been  so  long  settled,  it 
has  not  half  the  population),  as  beds  of  coal  and  iron,  of 
which  the  latter  State  has  little  or  none,  are  of  far  more 
value  than  mines  of  gold  and  silver.  In  the  productions 
of  a  semi-tropical  climate — in  vineyards  and  orange 
groves — California  is  superior.  But  in  Washington  the 
fruits  suited  to  a  more  northern  latitude  are  abundant. 
At  the  East  we  count  strawberries  and  other  small 
fruits  that  have  to  be  cultivated,  a  luxury.  What  would 
our  housekeepers  say  to  be  offered  two  dozen  baskets 
for  seventy -five  cents  ?  In  the  more  important  staple  of 
grain,  Washington  has,  on  the  uplands  of  the  interior,  a 
wheat  belt  that  reminds  us  of  those  of  Minnesota  and 
Manitoba.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  the  land  to 
yield  from  fifty  to  eighty  bushels  to  the  acre.  Indeed, 
in  the  exhibit  of  Washington  in  the  World's  Fair  at 
Chicago,  there  were  shown  one  hundred  and  one  bushels 
of  flour  as  the  product  of  a  single  acre,  while  one  who 
rides  through  the  oat-fields  may  often  see  stalks  nine 
feet  high !  The  grass  is  of  a  sweetness  which  it  retains 
through  all  weather.  It  is  not  necessary  to  gather  it 
into  barns.  It  does  not  spoil  when  left  lying  out  in  the 
fields,  and  exposed  to  the  rain,  but  remains  green  and 
juicy,  making  the  most  delicious  hay  for  horses.  So 
abundant  is  it,  that  cattle  can  be  raised  almost  for  noth- 
ing; so  that,  when  offered  for  sale,  a  horse  will  not 
bring  much  more  than  a  sheep.  A  friend  told  me  that 


THE  STATE   OF   WASHINGTON  175 

he  had  been  offered  horses  at  three  dollars  apiece,  and 
that  he  might  have  his  pick  out  of  a  hundred  for  five ! 
Of  course,  in  this  case,  as  he  lived  in  Portland,  the  price 
would  be  quadrupled  by  the  cost  of  transportation.  But 
the  fact  shows  the  abundance  and  the  cheapness  of 
everything  on  this  marvellous  Pacific  coast. 

Such  uplands  would  have  a  certain  majesty  even  if 
they  were  spread  out  in  boundless  plains  like  the  steppes 
of  Asia ;  but  how  much  grander  are  they  when  enclosed, 
like  the  parks  of  Colorado,  by  ranges  of  mountains! 
One  of  these  is  so  begirt  with  Alpine  scenery  that  it 
has  been  reserved,  like  the  Yosemite  in  California,  and 
the  Yellowstone  Park  in  Wyoming,  to  be  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  people  forever.  The  administration  of 
General  Harrison  left  many  good  things  to  the  Ameri- 
can people,  but  few  of  more  enduring  value  than  the 
"Pacific  Forest  Eeserve,"  which  it  created  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  State  by  withdrawing  from  entry — that  is, 
from  sale  and  purchase — a  tract  of  land  forty -two  miles 
from  north  to  south,  and  thirty-six  miles  from  east  to 
west ;  an  area  one-fifth  larger  than  the  State  of  Khode 
Island,  and  of  which  it  is  affirmed  that  it  "  contains  at 
once  the  highest  peak,  the  most  extensive  glacial  system, 
and  the  finest  natural  gardens  to  be  found  in  the  world." 
Though  yet  little  known  to  tourists,  it  will  not  be  long 
before  it  is  included  in  the  summer  trips  to  the  Pacific. 
Already  a  wagon  road  has  been  built  to  it,  and  it  is 
within  a  day  or  two's  drive  from  different  points  on  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

But  the  richest  inheritance  may  be  wasted  by  neglect. 
The  more  wonderful  it  is,  the  more  jealously  should  it  be 
guarded  and  kept.  The  first  thing  is  to  protect  it  from 
spoliation.  The  wild  wood  is  the  domain  of  squatters, 


176  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

who  range  through  it  at  will,  and  cut  down  and  burn  up 
in  a  very  destructive  way.  Of  course,  a  certain  degree 
of  liberty  is  to  be  allowed  to  the  backwoodsmen,  who 
have  to  camp  in  the  forest  with  nothing  above  them  but 
the  green  leaves.  It  would  be  a  hard  case  if  a  man  who 
has  tramped  in  the  woods  all  day  long,  and  is  wet  and 
cold  and  tired  and  hungry,  could  not  help  himself  to 
wood  to  kindle  a  fire  to  boil  his  kettle  and  cook  his  poor 
supper.  No  one  would  deny  him  this.  But  the  mischief 
is  that  he  does  not  always  put  out  the  fire  when  he 
moves  camp  the  next  morning.  It  is  often  left  to 
smoulder,  and  sometimes  blazes  up  again  and  spreads  till 
the  whole  forest  is  one  mighty  conflagration.  But  in 
time  we  may  hope  that  the  people  will  appreciate  this 
magnificent  park,  which  is  to  be  not  only  for  them, 
but  for  their  children  after  them  to  the  latest  genera- 
tion. 

But  this  Pacific  Forest  Reserve  is  in  the  interior,  while 
we  are  still  on  the  coast,  which  we  must  not  leave  with- 
out emphasizing  the  point  that  all  the  resources  and  all 
the  riches  of  the  State  of  Washington  are  doubled  and 
quadrupled  by  the  mere  fact  of  its  position.  If  it  could 
change  places  with  Montana,  it  would  not  be  worth  a 
quarter  of  what  it  is  now,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the 
value  of  its  products  depends  not  merely  on  the  fact  that 
they  are  good  for  food,  but  that  they  can  be  got  to 
market — to  the  places  where  they  are  wanted  for  the 
support  of  human  beings.  If  the  uplands  of  Montana 
could  be  made  to  wave  with  the  golden  grain,  it  would 
be  a  question  whether  it  would  pay  to  raise  it  and  ship 
it,  as,  by  the  time  it  got  into  the  hands  of  the  consumer, 
he  would  have  to  pay  not  only  for  the  raising,  but  for 
the  transporting,  so  that  his  "penny  loaf"  would  come 


THE   STATE   OF  WASHINGTON  177 

pretty  dear  when  it  came  to  be  put  into  the  hungry 
mouths  of  a  family  of  lusty  boys,  with  excellent  appe- 
tites ! 

But  the  farmers  of  Washington  have  no  trouble  in 
getting  rid  of  their  crops,  for  behold  the  carriers  of  the 
sea  are  already  at  the  door  !  The  people  of  Seattle  and 
Tacoma  look  down  upon  the  great  hulls  lying  at  their 
wharves,  which  they  can  fill  in  a  few  hours  by  simply 
opening  their  elevators,  when  these  great  birds  of  the 
ocean  will  spread  their  wings  and  fly  away  to  China  or 
to  any  point  of  Eastern  Asia ! 

I  have  been  studying  the  chart  of  the  Pacific,  which 
the  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  at  Tacoma 
gave  me,  and  find  it  full  of  interest  and  full  of  sugges- 
tion as  to  the  lines  which  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific 
will  take.  Look  northward  at  our  coast-line,  how  the 
continent  throws  out  its  arms  to  the  west  till  it  almost 
touches  the  shores  of  Asia.  What  a  graceful  curve  is 
that  of  the  Aleutian  Islands  towards  the  Siberian  coast ! 
These  islands  are  so  many  stepping-stones,  a  sort  of 
Giant's  Causeway,  for  the  advance  of  America  towards 
Asia. 

To  be  sure,  the  first  sight  of  Asia  is  not  very  inviting, 
for  over  against  the  last  island  rises  the  rugged  and 
storm-beaten  coast  of  Kamschatka,  which  carries  terror 
in  its  very  name,  as  it  seems  to  speak  of  icebergs  and  the 
pitiless  cold  and  the  long  darkness  of  the  Arctic  night. 

But,  after  all,  Nature  is  a  gentle  mother,  and  if  now 
and  then  she  affrights  us,  again  she  quiets  our  fears  by 
providing  a  refuge  against  our  dangers.  And  so  in  this 
very  case,  only  a  few  weeks  since,  a  captain  in  our 
navy  told  me  the  finest  port  in  which  he  had  ever 
dropped  anchor  in  any  part  of  the  world — not  excepting 
12 


178  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

the  Bay  of  Kio  Janeiro  or  the  Bay  of  Naples — was  that 
of  Petropaulovski  in  Kamschatka.* 

Looking  on  the  map  again,  I  find  the  name  of  another 
Kussian  port  on  the  Pacific,  Yladivostock,  to  which  it 
is  directing  the  great  transcontinental  railroad  which  it 
has  long  been  pushing  across  Siberia,  a  movement  to 
which  increased  importance  has  been  given  by  the  re- 
cent war  between  Japan  and  China — a  war  that  has 
changed  the  relations  towards  each  other  of  those  two 
great  powers  of  Eastern  Asia,  but  has  not  changed  our 
relations  to  either,  for  we  are  the  friends  of  both.  In 
the  midst  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  it  is  the  proud 
position  of  our  country  to  stand  apart  among  the  mighty 
combatants  as  the  one  that  has  no  traditional  hatreds, 
no  grudges  to  satisfy,  no  wrongs  to  avenge,  no  longings 
for  more  territory,  no  desire  to  be  a  great  military 
power ;  its  only  ambition  to  be  the  mediator  and  peace- 
maker among  nations,  the  friend  of  the  whole  human 
race! 

*  The  officer  here  referred  to  is  Captain  Berry,  whom  many  will 
recall  as  in  command  of  the  Michigan,  which  lay  off  Chicago 
during  the  Exposition.  He  is  a  Kentuckian,  of  splendid  physique, 
with  a  frame  of  iron,  who  can  be  relied  upon  to  do  whatever  man 
can  do  in  any  perilous  enterprise,  and  who  for  that  reason  was 
ordered  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  some  years  ago  to  search  for  the 
Jeannette,  which  had  been  sent  out  on  an  exploring  expedition, 
under  Captain  De  Long,  and  had  not  returned.  He  found  that  it 
had  been  crushed  in  the  ice,  and  that  its  brave  captain,  and  the 
greater  part  of  his  crew,  had  perished  with  cold  and  hunger.  To 
complete  the  tale  of  catastrophes,  Berry's  own  ship  was  destroyed 
by  fire  off  the  coast  of  Asia,  and  he  was  obliged  to  make  his  way  on 
sledges  across  the  whole  of  Siberia,  without  even  a  tent  to  cover 
him ;  sleeping  on  the  snow,  with  nothing  above  him  but  the  stars, 
when  the  thermometer  was  fifty  degrees  below  zero  ! 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   CITY    OF   PORTLAND 

IN  leaving  Tacoma  we  leave  the  sea,  and  turn  south- 
ward, as  if  we  were  bound  for  California.  The  day's 
ride  is  through  a  country  that  is  for  the  most  part  a  wil- 
derness, though  here  and  there  the  woodman's  axe  has 
made  a  little  clearing,  and  let  the  sunlight  into  the  gloom 
of  the  forest ;  and  a  few  poor  dwellings  furnish  shelter 
for  the  lumbermen  or  fishermen.  The  one  event  of  the 
day,  the  only  break  in  the  boundless  monotony,  is  the 
crossing  of  the  Columbia  River.  No  bridge  spans  it,  for 
it  is  so  broad,  and  at  times  so  tremendous  in  its  flood, 
that  a  bridge  could  be  built  only  at  an  enormous  cost ; 
but  the  train  is  run  upon  a  ferryboat  of  huge  propor- 
tions, on  which  it  is  floated  across  the  broad  current. 
Once  on  the  other  side,  our  course  is  along  its  banks, 
or  in  sight  of  it,  so  that  from  our  window  we  are  close 
to  an  ocean  steamer  coming  in  from  the  sea.  Thus  rail- 
way and  river  run  parallel  till  both  reach  the  chief  city 
of  Oregon. 

As  soon  as  we  were  in  the  streets  of  Portland,  I  felt 
at  home.  An  Eastern  man  can  hardly  come  here  with- 
out being  struck  with  the  resemblance  to  the  cities  of  New 
England ;  while,  as  to  the  people,  he  is  apt  to  say  in  his 
homely  phrase,  "  They  are  our  folks  ! "  Oregon  was 
settled  before  California,  and  drew  to  it  a  different  kind 


180  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

of  population.  The  rush  to  the  latter  began  with  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  1848,  but  long  before  that,  the  report 
of  the  famous  Willamette  Valley,  which  was  said  to  be 
rich  as  the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  drew  to  it  the  eyes  of 
Eastern  farmers,  many  of  whom  crossed  the  plains  with 
their  ox  teams  to  find  homes  in  this  agricultural  paradise. 
Such  sturdy  pioneers  gave  a  character  to  the  new  settle- 
ments on  the  Pacific  coast.* 

*  Mr.  George  H.  Himes,  whose  father  was  among  the  early  settlers 
of  Oregon  and  who  is  himself  an  authority  in  all  matters  as  to  its 
history,  gives  me  the  following  details  : 

"  Gold  was  first  discovered  in  California  January  19,  1848,  by 
James  W.  Marshall,  an  Oregon  pioneer  of  1844.  He  went  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1845,  and  hired  out  to  Captain  John  A.  Sutter,  who  came 
to  Oregon  in  1838,  and  went  to  Colorado  in  the  latter  part  of  1839. 
It  was  in  1849  that  the  great  rush  to  the  gold  fields  occurred,  it 
having  taken  a  year  for  the  discovery  to  become  known  east  of  the 
Mississippi.  While  the  Methodist  missionaries,  Daniel  and  Jason 
Lee,  came  in  1834,  followed  by  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  missionaries,  Dr. 
Samuel  Parker,  Dr.  Whitman,  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding,  Rev.  Elkanah 
Walker,  and  Rev.  Gushing  Eells,  who  came  in  1835-38,  it  was  not 
until  1842  that  any  regular  immigrants — home  builders,  in  the  best 
sense — came  to  Oregon.  The  letters  of  the  foregoing  missionaries 
doubtless  had  much  to  do  with  this  initial  immigration.  Then  in 
1843  Dr.  Whitman,  who  left  here  in  October,  1842,  returned  with 
a  large  immigration — one  thousand  souls.  This  fixed  Oregon  for 
the  United  States,  and  practically  settled  the  Oregon  question, 
which  had  been  in  controversy  for  twenty-five  years;  although  the 
formal  and  official  settlement  of  it  was  not  announced  until  June 
15,  1846.  The  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  was  held  here  just  half  a  century  after  the  first  home 
builders  came. 

"  Speaking  of  Dr.  Parker  reminds  me  that  it  was  his  lectures 
through  Northeastern  Pennsylvania  in  1839-42,  after  his  return 
from  Oregon  via  the  Sandwich  Islands,  which  first  gave  my  father 
the  impulse  to  come  to  Oregon.  He  started  in  1847,  when  I  was 


THE  CITY  OF  PORTLAND  181 

After  the  war  there  was  a  migration,  not  large,  but  of 
picked  men,  who  had  been  in  the  army.  An  old  soldier 
told  me  that  he  came  here  right  after  Appomattox,  and 
that  he  walked  all  the  way  across  the  plains.  It  took 
him  four  months ;  but  he  said  that  he  never  enjoyed 
anything  more  in  his  life.  And  well  he  might.  It  was 
an  easier  transition  for  him  to  ordinary  life,  than  if  he 
had  gone  back  to  the  old  shop  or  the  old  farm,  for  here 
at  least  he  could  keep  up  a  little  of  the  military  habit,  as 
he  was  ever  on  the  march,  dwelling  in  tents,  or  sleeping 
on  the  ground  and  looking  up  to  the  stars  !  There  was 
an  exhilaration  in  this  free  life,  as  there  was  in  the  very 
air  of  the  plains ;  and  as  he  strode  along  he  seemed  to 
hear  the  tramp,  tramp,  of  the  long  column  behind  him  ; 
and  if  he  did  not  hear  the  blast  of  the  bugle,  he  could 
at  least  lift  up  his  voice,  singing  "  The  Red,  White,  and 
Blue  "  or  "  The  Battle  Cry  of  Freedom."  By  this  endur- 
ance of  hardship  he  proved  his  manhood  and  his  right 
to  the  noblest  title  that  his  country  could  give,  that  of 
an  American  citizen.  This  is  the  stuff  to  make  a  State 
of,  and  such  were  the  founders  of  the  noble  common- 
wealth of  Oregon. 

As  was  the  State  so  was  the  city,  which  did  not  spring 
up,  like  Jonah's  gourd,  in  a  night,  but  grew  slowly  and 
solidly,  as  a  city  builded,  not  by  adventurers  in  search  of 

three  years  old,  but  only  came  as  far  as  Illinois.  The  journey  waa 
resumed  in  1853,  and  after  seven  months'  constant  travelling,  we 
reached  Puget  Sound,  then  in  Oregon.  Ours  was  the  first  through 
immigrant  train — thirty-six  wagons,  and  about  one  hundred  per- 
sons— that  entered  direct  what  is  now  the  State  of  Washington. 
We  came  through  the  Cascade  Mountains  a  few  miles  south  of  where 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  now  crosses,  making  our  own  road 
as  we  journeyed." 


182  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

gold,  but  by  men  of  substance  and  of  character.  Hence 
Portland  has  not  at  all  the  roughness  of  many  "Western 
towns,  where  the  streets  are  half  paved  and  the  houses 
half  built.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  a  finished  and  sub- 
stantial appearance  that  would  become  any  Eastern  city. 
As  I  went  about  the  streets,  I  was  constantly  reminded 
of  the  beautiful  cities  of  New  England,  and  kept  saying 
to  myself :  "  This  is  Hartford  !  This  is  Springfield  ! 
This  is  Worcester ! " 

Nor  is  it  merely  in  the  outward  appearance,  for  Port- 
land has  all  the  elements  of  substantial  prosperity.  In 
the  vast  trade  of  the  northwest,  San  Francisco  has  the 
lead  in  the  seal  fishery,  even  though  John  Jacob  Astor 
began  his  operations  in  1811  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colum- 
bia, where  the  little  port  of  Astoria  preserves  the  name 
of  the  thrifty  German  who  was  the  founder  of  the  fur 
trade  on  our  western  coast.  But  in  the  salmon  fishery, 
which  has  sprung  up  in  our  day,  Portland,  as  it  is  some 
hundreds  of  miles  nearer  the  place  of  the  enormous 
"  catch,"  has  more  of  the  business  of  supplying  the 
markets  of  the  world ;  as  it  leads  also  in  the  lumber 
that  is  sent  landward  and  seaward,  not  only  to  the 
towns  and  cities  of  the  interior,  but  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands  and  to  Japan  and  China. 

"With  such  elements  of  wealth,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
Portland  has  grown  rich,  till  its  banking  houses  rank 
among  the  soundest  on  all  the  exchanges  of  the  country. 
We  who  have  been  accustomed  to  talk  of  the  solid  men 
of  Boston  may  speak  of  the  solid  men  of  Portland. 

But  Portland  is  more  than  a  rich  city ;  it  is  a  city  of 
schools  and  churches.  As  the  Israelites  carried  the  ark 
in  all  their  wanderings,  the  sons  of  the  Pilgrims  carry 
the  meeting-house  and  the  school-house,  which  are  the 


THE   CITY   OF  PORTLAND  188 

first  objects  to  catch  the  eye  in  any  city,  town,  or  village, 
whithersoever  they  come.  In  Portland  the  public  schools 
are  among  the  most  conspicuous  buildings  of  the  city, 
while  churches  lift  their  spires  on  all  sides. 

As  I  hear  the  people  talk  about  the  men  whom  they 
hold  most  in  reverence  and  in  honor,  I  cannot  but  think 
that  the  city  owes  much  to  the  peculiar  character  of  its 
founders,  and  especially  to  a  few  of  a  strong  personality 
which  impressed  itself  upon  the  character  of  the  rising 
city.  Two  names  I  hear  most  often  mentioned — that 
of  Judge  Deady,  the  ornament  of  the  bar  and  the  bench, 
whose  recent  death  is  greatly  mourned  ;  and  that  of 
Eev.  Dr.  Lindsley,  who,  as  the  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  for  many  years,  was,  by  his  position 
as  well  as  his  ability,  the  leader  of  his  brethren.  The 
names  of  such  men  should  be  held  forever  in  grateful 
remembrance.  Dr.  Lindsley  was  a  sort  of  Presbyterian 
bishop,  who  had  the  care  of  all  the  churches.  The  "  Old 
First "  of  Portland  has  been  a  mother  of  churches,  giving 
freely  to  scores  if  not  to  hundreds  of  missionary  churches 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  It  was  a  fit  recognition  of  its  im- 
portance that  brought  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  all  the  way  across  the  continent  to  hold 
its  meeting  with  a  church  that  bore  an  historic  name. 

This  church  had  a  pastor  worthy  of  its  past  reputation 
in  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  a  son  of  New  England, 
but  who,  by  one  sacred  association,  belongs  to  the  whole 
country.  One  of  the  earliest  recollections  of  his  child- 
hood was  that  of  seeing  his  father  leave  the  old  home 
to  take  his  place  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  were  fight- 
ing for  their  country.  He  enlisted  for  three  years,  on 
the  very  last  day  of  which,  as  he  was  about  to  return 
to  his  home,  he  fell,  and  only  his  silent  form  was 


18-i  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

brought  back  to  be  laid  in  a  soldier's  grave.  To  one 
with  such  heroic  blood  in  his  veins,  we  look  to  see  him 
bearing  a  manly  part  in  any  sphere  of  duty  to  which  he 
may  be  called,  and  we  are  not  disappointed.  Even  the 
highest  place  on  the  Pacific  coast  has  been  thought  by 
his  brethren  not  to  be  the  full  measure  of  his  ability  and 
usefulness  to  the  Church  at  large  ;  and  since  we  left  that 
coast  he  has  been  called  to  New  York  to  take  the  place 
of  the  lamented  Arthur  Mitchell,  as  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

As  I  came  to  Portland  in  midsummer,  I  found  Dr. 
Brown  divided  in  his  thoughts  between  the  care  of  his 
church,  and  plans  for  his  vacation,  which  was  near  at 
hand.  No  one  is  better  entitled  to  a  respite  than  the 
hard-worked  pastor  of  a  city  church  with  a  thousand 
members.  He  was  going  off  with  his  brother  Morrison, 
the  excellent  pastor  of  Calvary  Church,  and  their  fam- 
ilies, to  camp  near  the  foot  of  Mount  Hood,  sixty  miles 
east,  where  they  could  pitch  their  tents  under  the  trees, 
and  spend  some  weeks  in  hunting  and  fishing.  With 
his  cordial  hospitality  he  invited  me  to  go  along;  but  I 
declined  with  thanks,  for  I  do  not  take  my  vacations  in 
that  way.  If  I  had  lived  in  the  days  of  the  apostles, 
they  would  not  have  had  me  in  their  boat,  for  I  don't 
fish  ;  Peter  would  have  thrown  me  overboard  as  unfit 
for  the  profession.  Nor  am  I  a  mighty  hunter  before 
the  Lord ;  for,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  hate  the  crack  of  a 
rifle !  I  shall  be  content  to  hear  of  the  prowess  of  those 
who  go  forth  to  battle  in  the  achievements  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Nimrods  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Hood. 

But  if  we  did  not  go  a-fishing,  we  did  make  the  excur- 
sion up  the  Columbia,  the  scenery  of  which  has  hardly 
its  equal  in  the  Old  World  or  the  New.  Great  rivers, 


THE   CITY   OF   PORTLAND  185 

like  great  men,  have  to  get  their  reputation  by  fighting 
for  it.  Almost  all  the  great  rivers  of  Europe  have  their 
sources  in  the  Alps,  from  which  they  come  down  by  leaps 
and  waterfalls,  till  they  are  confronted  by  huge  cliffs 
crossing  their  path,  through  which  they  have  to  cut  their 
way.  Thus  are  formed  the  innumerable  gorges  through 
which  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  make  their  long  jour- 
neys from  the  mountains  to  the  sea.  The  same  forces 
have  been  at  work  on  the  Columbia  with  the  same 
result,  reminding  us  at  once  of  the  Iron  Gates  of  the 
Danube,  and  of  the  cliffs  below  the  Falls  at  Niagara, 
where  the  rocky  heights,  cleft  in  twain,  look  down  on 
the  rapids  and  whirlpools  in  which  the  mad  current 
rushes  on  its  way.  It  needs  no  geologist  to  trace  the 
path  of  the  destroyer,  for  we  can  see  it  for  ourselves. 
So  near  did  we  pass  to  the  cliffs  on  the  Columbia,  that, 
as  we  sat  on  deck,  they  seemed  to  hang  right  over  us ; 
and  as  the  scenery  grew  wilder  and  wilder,  the  captain 
took  us  into  the  pilot  house  that  we  might  keep  an  eye 
on  both  sides  at  once.  In  rounding  "  Cape  Horn,"  we 
passed  within  a  few  feet  of  giant  columns  that  seemed 
as  if  they  might  bear  up  the  very  gates  of  heaven  on 
their  mighty  shoulders. 

But  let  no  one  think  that  the  scenery  of  the  Columbia 
is  all  majesty  and  terror.  True,  the  mountains  are  dark, 
but  the  waters  that  spring  out  of  them,  as  they  pour 
down  the  mountain  side,  shine  and  glisten  in  a  way  to 
give  relief  to  the  most  forbidding  background.  Look 
up  at  the  "  Bridal  Veil  "  !  Was  ever  a  waterfall  more 
fitly  named  ?  The  sheet  of  spray  that  leaps  in  air  seems, 
indeed,  like  a  delicate  drapery  of  lace  flung  over  the  form 
of  the  mountain  beauty  that  hides  behind. 

On  our  return,  an  old  resident  of  Portland,  Mr.  George 


186  OUK  WESTEKN  ARCHIPELAGO 

H.  Himes,  called  to  offer  his  services  to  take  me  to  some 
points  of  observation  outside  the  city  that  most  visitors 
do  not  see.  He  frankly  confessed  that  he  was  a  crank 
in  these  matters,  and  that  took  my  heart  at  once,  for  I 
am  fond  of  cranks,  at  least  when  the  mania  takes  the 
mild  form  of  a  passionate  love  of  nature.  He  wanted  to 
take  me  to  a  hill  a  few  miles  out  of  town  to  see  the  sun 
rise,  when  we  should  have  the  whole  panorama  spread 
out  before  us. 

"  But  at  what  hour  must  we  set  out  ?  " 
He  hesitated  a  little,   and  then  said  softly:   "The 
earlier  the  better ! " 

"  And  what  do  you  call  early  ?  " 
"  What  would  you  say  to  starting  at  half -past  four? " 
"  All  right ;  I  shall  expect  you  at  that  hour." 
Of  course,  we  both  expressed  our  desire  to  have  Dr. 
Brown  join  us,  but  when  he  heard  the  hour,  he  respect- 
fully declined.  We  did  not  press  him,  for  he  is  an 
elderly  gentleman,  thirty-seven  years  old,  and  could 
not  be  expected  to  break  the  blissful  calm  of  "tired 
nature's  sweet  restorer"  at  that  unconscionable  hour. 
But  as  I  am  a  boy  of  seventy-two,  I  am  under  no  law  of 
time  or  place.  The  very  thought  of  the  coming  pleasure 
caused  me  to  wake  in  the  night,  eager  with  anticipation, 
until,  unable  to  wait  any  longer,  I  rose  and  dressed, 
and,  looking  at  my  watch,  found  that  it  was  just  four! 
Better  too  soon  than  too  late,  and  I  muffled  myself  up  in 
a  thick  overcoat,  and  took  my  seat  on  the  veranda  of  the 
Portland  Hotel.  At  half-past  four  exactly  a  light  buggy 
drove  in,  and  we  stole  out  of  the  yard  as  if  we  were  en- 
gaged in  some  criminal  enterprise.  As  the  plank  roads  and 
asphalt  pavements  give  but  little  sound,  we  crept  softly 
out  of  the  city,  and  began  to  wind  our  way  up  the  hills. 


THE   CITY   OF   PORTLAND  187 

As  soon  as  we  were  in  the  woods,  my  friend's  enthusiasm 
for  trees  came  out,  for  he  is  a  lover,  I  might  almost  say 
a  worshipper,  of  trees,  and  knows  the  trunk  and  branches, 
the  bark  and  leaf,  of  every  tree  on  the  mountains,  and 
with  natural  pride  he  pointed  out  to  me  the  Oregon 
cedar,  that  is  invaluable  for  building  purposes,  as  it  will 
stand  the  storms  of  a  hundred  years ;  and  the  Douglas 
fir,  or,  more  accurately,  the  Douglas  spruce,  of  which 
there  are  specimens  in  a  park  near  the  city  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  high  ! 

As  we  climbed  higher  and  higher,  the  landscape  below 
us  spread  out  wider  and  wider,  till  it  was  like  the  plain 
of  Damascus  as  I  looked  back  upon  it  from  the  side  of 
Anti-Lebanon.  To  be  sure,  Damascus  is  not  here,  but 
in  what  nature  has  done  for  both,  I  could  say  truly 
that  the  Columbia  is  far  greater  and  more  majestic 
than  "  Abana  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damascus  " — and  I 
might  add,  "  than  all  the  waters  of  Israel  " — as  it  rolls 
its  mighty  volume  to  the  sea. 

But  that  was  not  all  that  we  had  come  to  see.  The 
great  sight  from  this  point  of  view  is  the  mountains  on 
the  horizon — Mount  Rainier  (or  Tacoma),  Mount  Adams, 
Mount  Hood,  Mount  Saint  Helen's,  and  Mount  Jefferson 
— all  with  their  crowns  of  snow  that  shine  gloriously  when 
touched  by  the  morning  sun.  But  in  this  we  were  dis- 
appointed. The  mountains  were  all  there,  and  we  were 
there  to  see  them ;  but  the  sun  did  not  show  his  face. 
My  friend  was  full  of  apologies  for  his  bad  behavior. 
But,  as  I  am  an  old  traveller,  I  am  used  to  disappoint- 
ments. Had  I  not,  when  in  Japan,  made  a  journey  of 
seventy  miles  to  get  a  near  view  of  Fusiyama,  and  then 
he  wrapped  himself  in  clouds,  as  if  disdaining  the  hom- 
age of  a  foreigner !  These  rebuffs  of  nature  I  take  with 


188  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

philosophy ;  and  to-day,  if  we  had  not  seen  all,  we  had 
seen  enough  to  repay  our  climb.  It  was  enough  to  see 
the  awakening  of  the  world  to  life ;  to  hear  the  song  of 
birds ;  and  to  see  the  gradual  lifting  of  the  clouds  from 
the  tops  of  the  mountains,  which  were  beginning  to  be 
touched  with  golden  light,  as  if  nature  were  offering  her 
morning  sacrifice. 

At  half-past  seven  we  rode  into  the  courtyard  of  the 
hotel,  not  only  content  with  our  three  hours'  ride  of 
the  morning,  but  so  well  satisfied  that  we  were  ready  to 
repeat  it  that  very  evening,  and  at  eight  o'clock  set  out 
once  more  for  the  hills.  The  scene  by  night  was,  in 
some  respects,  more  glorious  than  by  day ;  for,  as  the 
city  is  lighted  by  electricity,  it  seemed  as  if  the  thousands 
of  stars  above  were  reflected  in  the  plain  below — an  illu- 
mination that  extended  beyond  the  river  to  the  lights  of 
Vancouver,  the  military  post  for  the  Department  of  the 
Columbia,  ten  miles  away.  It  required  but  little  imagina- 
tion to  see  in  these  the  camp-fires  of  some  mighty  Asiatic 
host  (like  that  of  Sennacherib  when  he  came  up  against 
Jerusalem)  that  had  pitched  their  tents  in  the  valley. 

The  next  day  we  said  good-by  to  Portland,  where  in 
less  than  a  week  we  had  come  to  feel  at  home.  So 
quickly  are  minds  and  hearts  fused  by  sympathy,  that 
those  who  are  strangers  one  day  are  acquaintances  the 
next,  and  then  friends.  No  one  can  help  feeling  respect 
for  a  people  who,  by  their  own  unaided  strength,  have 
made  a  foremost  position  in  our  great  Confederacy  of 
States.  We  are  proud  of  them  as  our  kindred,  of  the 
same  New  England  stock,  whose  intelligence  and  force 
of  will  and  power  of  achievement  reflect  honor,  not  only 
upon  themselves,  but  upon  the  whole  American  Union  to 
which  they  and  we  belong. 


CHAPTEE  XIX 

HOMEWARD   BOUND — THE    STRIKES 

WHEN  the  hour  of  departure  had  come  our  friends,  who 
were  at  the  station  to  see  us  off,  congratulated  us  that  we 
could  now  go  in  safety.  The  strikes  of  the  summer  were 
nowhere  more  violent  than  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the 
railroads  were  tied  up  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  move. 
A  gentleman  and  his  wife  from  New  York,  who  came 
on  with  us,  had  been  shut  up  in  Portland  for  a  month. 
Another  passenger,  who  was  from  California,  told  me  that 
it  had  taken  him  twenty -two  days  to  get  to  Portland  ! 
He  had  started  from  Sacramento  and  got  into  the  moun- 
tains, but  from  that  point  could  not  stir  a  step.  As  soon 
as  a  train  was  made  up,  the  strikers  would  uncouple  the 
passenger  cars  from  the  engine.  This  paralysis  of  com- 
munication might  have  continued  for  months,  had  not 
the  Government  put  forth  its  strong  hand.  But  as  soon 
as  the  bluecoats  were  distributed  along  the  lines,  the 
strikers  began  to  see  things  in  a  new  light.  At  Tacoma  I 
had  met  Colonel  Anderson,  the  second  in  command  of  the 
Department  at  Vancouver,  who  told  me  that  he  thought 
the  coast  was  clear ;  but  for  all  that,  I  was  not  at  all 
displeased  to  see  a  stalwart  soldier  in  the  cab  with  the 
engineer,  and  others  on  the  train,  and  others  still  at  every 
station  on  the  road. 

The  terminus  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Road  is  not  at 


190  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

Portland,  but  at  Tacoma,  to  which  we  had  to  return  to 
take  a  fair  start.  Here  we  changed  our  course  from 
north  to  east,  and  as  we  moved  out,  towards  midnight, 
felt  that  at  last  we  were  indeed  homeward  bound.  Had 
I  known  then  as  much  as  I  know  now,  I  would  not  have 
stolen  away  by  night,  but  waited  till  broad  daylight,  to 
see  more  of  the  grand  scenery  of  the  Pacific  coast ;  for, 
during  these  hours  of  darkness,  we  were  to  cross  the 
Cascade  Range,  where  the  road  plays  hide-and-seek,  now 
rushing  into  dark  tunnels,  and  then  reappearing  at  some 
unexpected  point,  never  taking  a  straight  course,  but 
always  winding  round  and  round,  once,  I  believe,  execut- 
ing a  spiral  in  the  very  heart  of  the  mountain — a  feat  of 
engineering  that  excited  my  amazement  when  I  saw  it  in 
crossing  the  Alps  from  Italy  to  Switzerland,  by  the  Pass 
of  the  St.  Gothard.  Where  this  sudden  whirl  is  not 
necessary,  it  makes  a  circuit  on  the  mountain  side,  always 
with  an  up  grade,  till  it  attains  an  elevation  of  four  or  five 
thousand  feet.  Certainly  this  is  all  that  is  required  for 
its  dignity  as  it  launches  out  on  its  voyage  across  the 
continent. 

And  now,  before  I  start  on  this  "  voyage,  "  I  feel  it  to 
be  a  duty  to  recognize  the  immense  service  rendered 
by  this  great  national  highway,  not  only  to  the  western 
coast,  but  to  our  whole  country.  It  is  so  long  since  we 
had  the  first  of  these  transcontinental  roads,  that  to  recall 
the  state  we  were  in  before  that  time  reads  like  ancient 
history.  But  there  are  a  good  many  of  us  who  are  old 
enough  to  remember  it  well ;  and  still  more,  when  not 
only  was  there  no  such  road  in  existence,  but  when  many 
who  had  been  over  the  ground,  and  knew  the  tremendous 
obstacles  in  the  way,  said  that  the  very  idea  of  it  was 
chimerical !  It  was  well  enough  to  talk  about,  but  to 


HOMEWARD   BOUND — THE   STRIKES  191 

• 

construct  a  railway  across  a  whole  continent — from  ocean 
to  ocean — was  simply  impossible.  Probably  they  would 
have  been  of  the  same  opinion  still,  but  that,  while  they 
were  reasoning  against  it,  the  thing  was  done  !  It  was 
no  longer  necessary  to  take  an  ocean  voyage,  and  cross 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  then  take  another  voyage, 
to  reach  California  ;  since  one  could  step  into  a  car  in 
New  York  and  step  out  of  it  in  Oakland,  across  the  bay 
from  San  Francisco ! 

But  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  good  things.  To 
most  of  those  who  had  looked  on  in  amazement  it  seemed 
that  the  first  must  be  the  last.  So  reasoned  men  of 
great  sagacity.  Soon  after  the  war  there  was  a  council 
of  military  men  on  our  western  border  to  fix  the  loca- 
tion of  forts  to  protect  the  frontier  against  the  Indians. 
Among  them  was  General  Sherman,  who  had  lived  in 
California,  and  felt  the  importance  of  a  close  connection 
between  the  eastern  and  western  coast.  And  yet  he 
and  the  other  officers  and  engineers  thought  it  would 
require  a  long  course  of  years  to  carry  out  a  work  of 
such  magnitude,  and  all  agreed  that  one  road  would  be 
ample  for  the  needs  of  the  country  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century !  "  Yet,"  said  General  Sherman,  when  telling 
the  story,  "in  three  years  from  that  time  I  was  riding 
over  the  road  to  San  Francisco  " — to  which  we  may  add 
that  at  the  end  of  the  quarter  of  a  century  there  are, 
including  the  Canadian  Pacific,  no  less  than  six  through 
lines  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

These  roads  have  revolutionized  the  country.  They 
have  brought  the  distant  near,  so  that  the  mid-continent 
and  the  Pacific  coast  are  within  touch  of  the  rich  and 
populous  East.  As  they  opened  new  territories,  armies 
of  emigrants  have  marched  in  to  take  possession,  and  the 


192  OUE  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

• 

yield  of  the  prairies  has  doubled  the  produce  of  Ameri- 
can harvests,  which,  with  the  opening  of  mines  of  gold 
and  silver,  has  added  literally  thousands  of  millions  to 
the  national  wealth.  Seeing  all  this,  I  confess  that  I  am 
indignant  at  the  attacks  so  often  made  upon  the  pro- 
jectors and  builders  of  these  great  lines  of  railroads.  As 
to  their  motives,  they  may  be  like  other  men ;  but  as  to 
the  results  of  what  they  have  done,  they  are  among  the 
greatest  benefactors  to  their  country  and  to  mankind. 

The  morning  after  we  had  crossed  the  Cascade  Moun- 
tains, we  opened  our  eyes  on  a  scene  that  was  neither 
beautiful  nor  sublime,  as  we  saw  before  us  only  a  plain 
of  vast  extent,  unrelieved  by  mountain  or  forest — a  land 
that  seemed  to  be  smitten  with  a  curse,  upon  which  noth- 
ing grew  but  sage  brush,  or  other  coarse  grasses,  which 
only  a  camel,  used  to  crop  the  short  and  bitter  herbage 
of  the  desert,  would  touch !  And  yet,  as  I  looked  out 
upon  this  boundless  desolation,  something  within  me 
whispered,  "  Why  dost  thou  curse  what  God  hath  not 
cursed  ?  Knowest  thou  not  that  this  very  plain  is  only 
a  part  of  what  was  called  on  the  old  maps  '  The  Great 
American  Desert '  ?  Yet  the  pioneers  of  California 
soon  found  that  it  needed  only  the  gentle  showers  from 
heaven,  or  the  springs  that  run  among  the  hills,  to 
become  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord ! " 

So  this  soil  has  all  the  elements  of  vegetation,  and 
needs  only  the  water  from  above  or  from  below,  from 
the  springs  or  the  skies,  to  burst  forth  into  life  and 
beauty.  This  we  saw,  as  we  were  soon  in  the  heart  of 
the  wheat  belt  of  the  State  of  Washington.  Where  not 
sown  with  wheat,  the  land  is  given  up  to  grass.  Thou- 
sands of  acres  were  covered  with  the  new-mown  hay. 
And  such  hay  !  "  Sir,"  said  an  enthusiastic  inhabitant  of 


HOMEWARD   BOUND— THE  STRIKES  193 

the  country,  pointing  out  of  the  window,  "  it  is  the  finest 
hay  in  the  world !  Look  at  it !  It  is  not  like  your 
Eastern  hay,  that  dries  up  till  it  has  no  more  juice  in  it 
than  chips !  "  I  saw  that  the  hay  that  was  lying  in  the 
fields,  exposed  to  sun  and  rain,  was  as  fresh  and  green  as 
if  it  had  been  newly  mown.  He  would  have  me  put  it 
to  another  test.  "  Try  it ! "  he  said  ;  "  put  it  in  your  mouth 
and  taste  it,  and  see  how  sweet  and  juic}^  it  is ! "  I  did 
not  deem  it  necessary  to  make  the  experiment,  but  could 
believe  all  that  he  said  of  it,  and  of  the  general  fertility 
of  the  country,  for  which  nature  has  done  everything — 
if  it  is  not  destroyed  by  the  folly  of  man  ! 

I  make  this  qualification,  as  we  were  now  in  the  cen- 
tre of  strikes.  We  saw  no  outbreak,  but  around  all  the 
stations  were  groups  of  men,  who  were  in  an  angry  mood. 
They  attempted  no  violence,  but  stood,  or  sat  on  the 
fences,  a  little  way  oft0,  sullen  and  defiant.  What  they 
would  have  done  must  be  left  to  conjecture,  had  they  not 
been  restrained  by  another  figure  that  appeared  on  the 
scene  in  the  person  of  the  army  officer  who  walked  up 
and  down  the  platform  with  an  air  of  quiet  determina- 
tion that  meant  business.  I  could  not  resist  the  impulse 
to  go  up  to  him  and  give  him  a  hearty  shake  of  the  hand, 
thanking  God  in  my  heart  that  he  had  come  to  the  front 
for  such  a  time  as  this.  Nor  was  I  less  interested  in  the 
soldiers,  brave  and  manly  fellows,  who  had  no  swagger 
about  them,  but  who  were  under  strict  discipline,  and 
knew  their  duty  and  were  ready  to  do  it. 

Among  the  regiments  that  had  been  ordered  to  this 
service  was  one  of  colored  troops,  who  were  not  a  whit 
behind  their  white  fellow-soldiers  in  martial  spirit.  Every 
man  had  his  loins  girded  up  Avith  his  belt  filled  with  car- 
tridges as  if  the  fate  of  the  country  depended  on  him. 
13 


194  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

I  could  but  be  amused  at  the  air  of  possession — surely 
possession  is  nine  points  of  the  law — with  which  these 
stalwart  black  fellows  marched  up  and  down  the  plat- 
form, while  the  strikers  kept  at  a  respectful  distance. 
Good  for  you,  my  brave  fellows !  I  said  in  my  heart. 
As  long  as  you  keep  guard  on  this  station  those  idlers 
will  keep  quiet,  till  by  and  by  they  may  get  tired  of 
sitting  on  the  fence,  and  get  down  and  go  to  work  again. 

The  meeting  with  the  soldiers  was  always  a  pleasant 
episode,  but  the  necessity  for  such  a  guard  all  along  the 
line  was  a  serious  matter,  for  the  dangers  were  real  and 
great.  The  streams  in  this  country  have  worn  deep 
gorges,  which  are  spanned  by  bridges  of  great  length, 
thereby  offering  opportunity,  not  only  for  wreck  and 
ruin  of  property,  but  for  a  fearful  destruction  of  life. 
But  a  few  days  before,  the  strikers  at  Sacramento  had 
undermined  a  bridge,  so  that  a  car  was  wrecked,  killing 
a  party  of  soldiers.  Several  times  to-day  we  were  ex- 
posed to  the  same  fate.  Once,  as  we  were  creeping  over 
a  trestle  at  a  snail's  pace,  I  put  my  head  out  of  the  win- 
dow, and  looking  down  saw  that  we  were  more  than  a 
hundred  feet  in  air,  so  that  if  the  bridge  had  given  way, 
not  a  passenger  would  have  been  left  to  tell  the  tale.  I 
should  have  held  my  breath  in  apprehension  had  I  not  at 
the  same  moment  seen,  in  the  valley  below,  the  white  tents 
that  showed  that  the  soldiers  were  keeping  guard  over 
our  safety.  The  same  precautions  were  taken  at  every 
tunnel,  where  an  explosion  of  dynamite  in  the  middle 
might  have  left  us  blocked  in  the  heart  of  a  mountain. 
But  here  again  the  boys  in  blue  saluted  us  as  we  rushed 
into  the  darkness,  and  again  as  we  came  out  with  flying 
colors.  God  bless  their  brave  and  manly  hearts  ! 

It  was  a  long  day's  ride  across  the  State  of  Washing- 


HOMEWARD   BOUND— THE   STRIKES  195 

ton,  for  this  is  a  country  of  magnificent  distances ;  and 
it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  we  reached  Spokane 
Falls,  a  town  that  ranks  next  to  Seattle  and  Tacoma  in 
the  State.  The  very  name  indicates  the  source  of  its 
prosperity,  as  its  falls,  which  include  a  succession  of 
rapids,  furnish  a  water  power  hardly  equalled  in  the 
United  States,  except  at  Niagara — a  power  sufficient  to 
set  thousands  of  wheels  in  motion,  and  to  supply  the 
demands  of  a  hundred  different  industries.  Just  now 
the  wheels  are  not  in  motion;  the  mills  are  shut  down, 
and  the  men  that  were  employed  in  them  stand  round 
the  streets,  with  their  hands  in  their  pockets,  accusing 
their  late  employers  of  being  responsible  for  their  present 
idleness. 

Dr.  Mundy,  the  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
who  met  me  at  the  station,  gave  me  a  pitiful  account 
of  the  general  prostration  in  the  business  of  the  country. 
Never  was  there  such  a  paralysis  of  industry.  Nor  is 
it  only  in  Spokane,  but  north  of  this  is  a  region,  which 
bears  the  poetical  name  of  Coeur  d'Alene,  that  is  equally 
distinguished  for  the  beauty  of  its  lakes,  and  its  mines 
of  gold  and  silver.  Yet  even  here  the  evil  spirit  has 
entered,  and  the  mining  population  has  assumed  such 
fierce  mastery  that  the  quiet,  peaceable  inhabitants  are 
living  in  a  state  of  terror.  This  industrial  stagnation  is 

o  o 

always  a  danger  to  the  public  peace.  Idle  men  are  dan- 
gerous men.  Satan  finds  mischief  for  idle  hands.  Men 
who  are  out  of  employment  do  not  accuse  themselves  for 
what  they  suffer  ;  while  they  brood  over  their  troubles, 
they  never  ascribe  them  to  their  own  want  of  foresight, 
or  economy,  in  providing  for  a  rainy  day,  but  charge 
them  wholly  to  the  selfishness  of  the  rich,  which  makes 
them  eager  for  riot  and  revolution. 


196  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

Of  course,  one  cannot  but  sympathize  with  men  who 
are  willing  to  work,  and  find  nothing  to  do.  To  preach 
patience  is  easy  for  those  who  do  not  have  to  exercise 
it.  The  only  consolation  is  that  the  depression  here  is  but 
a  part  of  that  which  has  spread  all  over  the  country,  and 
must  pass  away  with  the  general  return  of  better  times. 
There  are  few  cities  for  which  nature  has  done  so  much 
as  for  Spokane  Falls,  whose  position  is  like  that  of  Law- 
rence and  Lowell  in  Massachusetts ;  and  here,  as  there, 
the  wheels  of  industry  must  soon  begin  to  move. 

Even  had  our  thoughts  been  somewhat  gloomy,  they 
must  have  been  dispelled  as  we  left  Spokane,  and  kept 
for  miles  along  the  banks  of  the  river  which  bears  that 
name,  whose  swift  current  is  a  fit  emblem  of  the  per- 
petual life  and  activity  of  the  American  people. 

When  I  left  Dr.  Mundy  standing  on  the  platform  at 
Spokane,  I  felt  that  I  had  left  my  last  acquaintance 
behind.  But  I  was  soon  to  make  another.  As  we  took 
our  places  again  in  the  drawing-room  car  and  looked 
round  at  the  new-comers,  I  saw  an  old  man,  who  had 
somewhat  of  a  military  bearing,  as,  indeed,  the  button 
on  his  coat  indicated  that  he  had  been  a  soldier  of  our 
war.  As  he  was  sitting  alone,  with  no  companion  but  a 
little  dog,  I  gave  him  the  greeting  of  a  stranger,  which 
led  to  a  conversation  that  was  to  me  one  of  great  interest. 
Though  he  was  not  seventy  years  old,  he  had  served  in 
different  armies  and  in  different  parts  of  the  world. 

As  to  his  family,  he  told  me  that  he  was  born  in 
Ireland,  in  Turlough,  in  the  County  Mayo,  and  was  the 
youngest  of  eighteen  brothers,  and  the  twenty-first  of 
twenty-two  children  !  His  father  was  a  commissioned  offi- 
cer in  the  English  army  in  the  Forty-seventh  Regiment, 
and  fought  under  "Wellington  at  "Waterloo.  Perchance 


HOMEWARD   BOUND— THE   STRIKES  197 

the  martial  fire  of  the  old  man  communicated  itself  to 
this  son,  who,  when  but  eighteen  years  of  age,  enlisted  as 
a  private  soldier  in  the  Fortieth  Regiment  (Second  Somer- 
setshire), and  sailed  for  India.  Landing  at  Calcutta,  he 
went  up  the  Ganges  and  finally  crossed  the  Himalayas, 
and  found  himself  at  Cabul,  the  capital  of  Afghanistan. 
He  was  in  the  Sikh  War,  under  General  Sale,  who  was 
killed  at  Cabul,  after  which  General  Nott  took  command, 
under  whom  he  marched  to  Candahar  and  to  Guznee. 
That  he  was  a  good  soldier  was  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing :  One  day  as  his  regiment  was  drawn  up  on  parade, 
he  heard  a  voice  calling  his  name,  with  a  command  to 
come  to  the  front !  It  made  him  tremble,  for  he  looked 
for  nothing  but  a  reprimand,  but  stepped  forward,  when 
the  commanding  ofiicer  dismounted  from  his  horse,  and, 
taking  him  by  the  hand,  declared  him  a  commissioned 
officer  in  the  service  of  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  !  That 
was  the  proudest  day  of  his  life. 

After  five  years  of  service  in  India,  he  returned  to 
England,  and  in  1852  came  to  America,  landing  in  New 
York,  where  he  had  letters  to  Dr.  Tyng  and  Dr.  Muhlen- 
berg.  For  a  time  he  was  a  colporteur  of  the  Tract 
Society;  after  which  he  went  to  Pelham  Priory,  and 
was  with  Rev.  Cornelius  Wilton  Bolton.  Thus  his  asso- 
ciations seemed  to  have  been  always  among  the  good — 
good  soldiers  and  good  men. 

In  1855  he  went  to  Kansas,  where  a  sympathy  of  ideas 
led  him  to  become  an  associate  of  John  Brown  in  his 
revolutionary  schemes,  and  he  would  have  been  with  him 
at  Harper's  Ferry  had  he  not  been  detailed  to  conduct 
some  fugitive  slaves  from  Detroit  into  Canada.  When 
the  war  came  on  he  hesitated  to  enter  the  army  from 
conscientious  scruples.  He  was  willing  to  take  an  oath 


198  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

to  support  the  Constitution,  but  not  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law!  The  recruiting  officer  thought  that  that  disquali- 
fied him,  and  between  them  he  remained  in  suspense  for 
six  weeks ;  but  Governor  Thomas  Kearney  made  a  quick 
end  of  the  business,  saying,  "  He'll  do  ;  muster  him  in! " 
So  he  entered  in  1861,  was  captain  of  a  company,  and 
fought  at  Wilson's  Creek  in  Missouri,  where  General 
Lyon  was  killed  ;  at  Osceola  ;  at  Pea  Ridge  ;  and  marched 
south  to  join  in  the  movement  of  General  Banks  up  the 
Red  River ;  after  which  he  was  kept  on  duty  in  Missouri 
and  Arkansas,  and  the  Cherokee  country. 

During  the  war  the  old  man  told  me  that  he  was 
never  under  fire  that  he  did  not  think  of  his  mother, 
and  mentally  resolved,  if  spared,  to  go  and  see  her ;  but 
it  was  not  till  1867  that  he  was  able  to  carry  out  his 
wish.  Then  he  sailed  for  the  old  country,  and  landing 
in  Ireland,  made  his  way  to  the  village  which  he  had  left 
so  many  years  before,  and  followed  the  familiar  path 
which  led  to  the  thatched  cottage  which  he  recognized 
as  the  old  home  !  Knocking  at  the  door,  he  asked  if  he 
could  find  a  lodging,  but  the  maid  said  he  must  go  on  to 
the  village,  where  he  would  find  the  inn.  But  gently 
forcing  his  way  in,  he  saw  an  old  lady  in  her  chair,  who 
asked  where  he  came  from?  to  which  he  answered, 
"  From  America."  "  Ah,  America ! "  she  said,  as  if  the 
very  word  awakened  sad  memories ;  "  I  once  had  a  son 
there,  but  now  I  don't  know  where  he  is."  This  was  too 
much  for  her  wandering  boy,  who  said,  "  Mother,  don't 
you  know  me  ? "  The  old  man  wiped  his  eyes  as  he 
spoke  of  his  mother,  who  was  in  her  ninetieth  year ;  while 
to  her  it  was  as  if  her  son  had  been  dead  and  was  alive 
again. 

After  this  pious  duty  was  performed,  he  returned  to 


HOMEWARD   BOUND — THE   STRIKES  199 

America  and  went  to  California,  from  which  he  came 
North,  and  for  the  last  eleven  years  has  been  at,  or  near, 
Spokane,  in  the  service  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad 
Company.  Now  that  his  working  days  are  over,  he  is 
going  East  to  visit  his  children  and  grandchildren  in 
Brooklyn,  after  which  he  will  settle  at  Toronto,  to  pass 
the  rest  of  his  days. 

All  this  was  told  with  the  utmost  simplicity,  with  no 
boasting  of  what  he  had  been  or  had  done ;  but  that  only 
made  it  the  more  touching,  as  it  showed  that  the  truest 
manhood  does  not  belong  only  to  those  who  are  at  the 
top,  but  quite  as  often  to  those  who  serve  in  the  ranks, 
and  whose  courage  and  devotion  are  too  often  undis- 
covered because  they  are  hidden  under  the  surface  of 
common  life. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MONTANA — THE    VIGILANTES 

IN  leaving  Spokane  Falls  we  do  not  leave  the  Spokane 
River,  any  more  than  in  leaving  Niagara  Falls  we  leave 
the  Niagara  River.  In  both  cases  the  rush  of  the  Falls 
communicates  itself  to  the  waters  below,  which  whirl 
and  foam  and  then  rush  onward,  as  if  in  pursuit  of  a 
beholder  who  should  flee  from  the  sight  in  terror.  So 
when  we  left  Spokane,  the  river  seemed  to  be  chasing  us, 
and  we  were  running  a  race  along  its  banks.  But  after 
a  few  miles  we  had  to  part  company,  leaving  it  to  con- 
tinue its  course  till  it  empties  into  the  Columbia ;  while 
we  turned  in  another  direction  to  find  a  passage  through 
the  mountains.  A  glance  at  the  map  is  sufficient  to  show 
the  enormous  engineering  difficulties  in  the  construction 
of  the  Northern  Pacific.  But  the  rugged  defiles  are 
picturesque  as  the  passes  of  the  Alps,  while  in  lakes  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  in  Switzerland  anything  more 
exquisitely  beautiful  than  the  Pend  d'Oreille.  Here  we 
are  in  the  State  of  Idaho  (how  musical  are  these  Indian 
names !),  but  of  which  we  see  little,  as  we  pass  through 
what  may  be  called  its  Pan  Handle,  its  boundary  being 
not  by  degrees  of  latitude  or  longitude,  but  by  the  trend 
of  a  chain  of  mountains  which  runs  from  northwest  to 
southeast,  and  we  are  at  the  small  end ;  while  farther 


MONTANA— THE  VIGILANTES  201 

south  it  broadens  to  proportions  that  place  it  alongside 
its  great  sister  States. 

Before  I  left  New  York  for  the  Pacific  coast,  a  mis- 
sionary in  Idaho  kindly  invited  me  to  visit  him  in  his 
Western  home,  presenting  a  picture  of  the  scenery  round 
him  that  was  most  tempting.  That  I  could  not  bring  it 
into  my  tour  was  my  loss ;  and  I  can  only  assure  him  that 
my  passion  for  travelling  has  only  been  stimulated  by  the 
experience  of  the  last  summer,  and  that  when  I  am  a  few 
years  younger  (as  I  seem  to  be  growing  that  way),  it  is 
not  impossible  that  I  may  visit  Idaho,  and  describe,  with 
youthful  enthusiasm,  its  lakes  and  rivers,  its  mountains 
and  valleys.  But  for  the  present  my  friend  will  excuse 
me  if  I  leave,  without  further  observation,  a  State  that  we 
passed  through  chiefly  in  the  night. 

But  the  next  morning,  when  the  sun  rose  gloriously 
over  the  mountains  of  Montana,  we  could  not  restrain 
our  enthusiasm.  Here  we  had  no  excuse  for  silence,  for 
we  crossed  the  State  in  broad  daylight ;  and,  as  it  was  a 
long  midsummer  day,  we  could  sit  at  our  windows  from 
daybreak  till  evening  twilight,  taking  in  the  ever-chang- 
ing views  all  round  the  horizon.  That  day  I  took  to 
Montana,  as  if  I  had  been  an  old  settler.  Its  very  name 
is  attractive,  as  it  is  significant  of  the  character  of  the 
country,  whose  chief  feature  is  its  mountains,  in  which  it 
resembles  the  north  of  Scotland,  the  mere  suggestion  of 
which  is  enough  to  stir  the  blood  of  one  whose  "  heart's 
in  the  Highlands." 

Wherever  such  romantic  tastes  still  exist,  they  can 
find  abundant  gratification  in  almost  any  part  of  the 
great  mountain  chain  that  includes  Colorado,  and  north 
of  which  is  Montana.  We  have  not,  indeed,  in  our 
Western  Hemisphere  any  "Koof  of  the  World"  like  that 


202  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

in  Asia  in  the  Himalayas.  But  our  continent  has  its  rise 
and  fall,  like  the  billows  of  the  sea,  and  there  is  a  gradual 
ascent  from  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  over  a  thousand 
miles  of  plain,  to  the  great  plateau  that  culminates  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  their  extensions  north  and 
south,  which  may  be  considered  as  the  backbone  of  the 
continent. 

In  speaking  thus  admiringly  of  these  Western  moun- 
tains, I  do  not  mean  to  hold  them  up  as  being  so  high  or  so 
difficult  of  ascent  as  to  test  the  muscle  or  the  nerve  of 
Alpine  climbers.  I  have  no  idea  of  tempting  Dr.  Park- 
hurst  to  leave  Switzerland  for  Montana,  for  he  would  be 
disappointed,  since  he  would  find  no  such  awful  heights 
as  those  of  Mont  Blanc  and  the  Matterhorn.  If,  indeed, 
he  wishes  to  try  his  cool  head  and  firm  step  on  some 
mountain  this  side  the  sea,  let  him  go  to  Alaska,  and  a 
day  or  two  farther  north  than  we  went,  he  will  find  him- 
self at  the  foot  of  Mount  Saint  Elias,  a  monarch  of  the 
upper  air,  to  which  I  am  sure  that  he  will,  with  his 
usual  politeness,  take  off  his  hat  with  profound  respect. 
And  then  let  him  put  himself  in  training,  and  when  he 
is  in  prime  condition  make  the  attempt.  He  may  suc- 
ceed where  others  have  failed. 

But  if  Montana  has  no  Saint  Elias  nor  Matterhorn,  she 
has  mountains  enough  to  fill  all  her  horizons,  so  that  one 
can  hardly  go  anywhere  without  having  some  snow- 
capped peak  in  sight. 

And  the  beauty  of  our  western  State,  as  set  over  against 
Switzerland,  is  that  our  mountains  look  down  upon  scenes 
of  plenty,  such  as  Mont  Blanc  and  the  Matterhorn  never 
saw.  Between  the  long  ranges  of  Montana  are  valleys 
of  unbounded  fertility.  One  familiar  with  the  country 
told  me  that  he  had  never  seen  such  wheat  fields  as  those 


MONTANA — THE   VIGILANTES  203 

near  Mussola,  a  hundred  and  twenty -five  miles  west  of 
Helena.  One  of  the  great  land-owners  told  him  that  he 
had  in  a  single  field  a  thousand  acres  of  oats  that  stood 
nine  feet  high,  into  which  a  man  could  not  venture  with- 
out being  lost,  as  in  the  depths  of  an  African  forest ! 
Fields  that  are  less  suited  for  cultivation  are  admirably 
adapted  for  grazing.  One  of  the  sights  of  every  year  is 
the  countless  herds,  bred  in  Texas,  that  are  driven  north 
to  get  "  hardened  "  in  the  bracing  air  of  the  uplands  of 
Montana.  One  riding  over  the  country  may  literally  see 
the  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills.  "  The  valleys  also  are 
covered  over  with  corn  ;  they  shout  for  joy  ;  they  also 
sing." 

It  was  about  noon  when  we  drew  up  at  Helena,  not 
in  the  town,  but  in  sight  of  it,  for  it  does  not  lie  on 
the  open  plain,  but  reaches  back  up  into  the  hills  (into 
a  gulch  rich  in  golden  ore,  which  was  indeed  the  attrac- 
tion that  drew  the  first  settlers  to  this  spot),  from  which 
the  capital  looks  down  on  the  broad  expanse  at  its  feet. 
As  the  train  made  but  a  brief  stop,  we  saw  only  just 
enough  to  excite  our  curiosity  without  gratifying  it ;  so 
that  we  were  but  too  glad  when,  ten  days  later,  after  our 
visit  to  the  Yellowstone  Park,  we  had  an  opportunity  to 
return  and  spend  a  couple  of  days  in  Helena,  with  a  visit 
to  Butte  and  Anaconda,  two  of  the  great  mining  centres 
of  the  country. 

Meanwhile,  our  first  glimpse  was  enough  to  set  us  on 
the  track  of  inquiry,  and  we  were  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
thrown  with  those  who  were  able  to  answer  our  ques- 
tions— the  Attorney-General  of  the  State  and  an  editor, 
whom  I  felt  at  liberty  to  address  as  one  of  the  fraternity. 
Montana  has  been  a  rich  subject  for  journalists,  not  so 
much  because  of  its  mines,  as  because  of  its  tragic  history 


204  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

in  the  days  when  the  Vigilantes  fought  with  robbers 
and  murderers  in  a  life-and-death  struggle  between 
savagery  and  civilization.  I  am  afraid  I  did  not  begin 
my  inquiries  in  the  most  flattering  way.  It  could  hardly 
exalt  their  State  pride  to  hear  a  stranger  say :  "  I  am 
told  that  Butte  (the  great  mining  centre)  is  the  wickedest 
town  in  the  world !  "  to  which  the  Attorney-General,  as 
the  official  defender  of  the  State,  at  once  made  answer  : 
"  Butte  is  no  worse  than  New  York  !  The  only  differ- 
ence is  that  certain  forms  of  wickedness,  which  you 
repress  by  law,  are  here  legalized,  so  that  what  in 
your  city  is  done  in  secret  is  here  done  openly."  He 
made  a  point  of  this,  as  if  it  were  to  the  credit  of  Butte, 
that  it  had  no  false  shame;  and  made  no  attempt  to 
hide  its  black  spots  behind  bolted  doors.  "In  Butte," 
he  said,  "  it  is  no  more  of  a  crime  to  keep  a  gambling 
house  than  to  keep  a  hotel.  As  the  passion  for  gambling 
is  one  that  cannot  be  repressed  among  miners,  we  think 
it  is  in  the  interest  of  morality  to  have  it  public  rather 
than  private,  and  so  we  license  it,  as  you  in  New  York 
license  drinking  saloons.  And  not  only  so,  but  here  the 
law  requires  that  the  character  of  the  place  shall  be 
declared  in  the  sign  LEGALIZED  GAMBLING,  which  shall  be 
painted  over  the  door  in  letters  four  inches  long !  " 

This  was  indeed  taking  the  bull  by  the  horns.  That 
his  statement  was  true,  I  saw  a  week  or  two  later,  when 
a  friend  showed  me  about  the  streets  of  Butte.  We 
found,  as  he  had  said,  that  the  gambling  houses  were 
public  institutions ;  that  they  were  not  hidden  away  in 
back  streets,  but  stood  on  the  Broadway  of  the  town, 
with  doors  wide  open  to  all  comers.  As  my  friend  led 
the  way  I  walked  in,  as  I  had  into  the  gambling  house 
at  Monte  Carlo,  and  here,  as  there,  saw  the  games  in 


MONTANA— THE   VIGILANTES  205 

full  blast.  It  must  be  confessed  that  there  is  one  ad- 
vantage in  this ;  that  a  man  cannot  hide  his  wickedness ; 
if  he  is  a  gambler,  everybody  will  know  it.  Young 
clerks  cannot  sneak  into  these  places,  and  spend  the 
money  of  their  employers.  So  far,  its  publicity  is  a  pro- 
tection to  those  who  might  suffer  from  an  immorality 
that  was  concealed.  But  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  a 
terrible  temptation  in  these  doors  that  stand  wide  open 
on  the  street,  where  every  passer-by  can  hear  the  rattle 
of  the  dice,  mingled  with  the  sound  of  music  and  dancing. 
Monte  Carlo,  as  everybody  knows  who  has  been  in  the 
south  of  France,  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  places  of 
amusement  in  Europe ;  but  the  more  splendid  it  is,  the 
wider  is  the  gate  to  destruction,  and  the  more  will  there 
be  that  go  in  thereat. 

This  talk  about  the  present  state  of  manners  and 
morals  set  me  a-thinking  of  the  early  days  of  Montana, 
of  which  I  had  read  a  good  deal  years  ago,  and  it  all 
came  back  now  that  I  was  on  the  spot,  and  could  talk 
with  the  very  men  who  had  taken  part  in  those  terrible 
scenes.  The  first  population  that  came  into  this  country 
was  attracted  by  the  discovery  of  gold,  a  magnet  that 
drew  together  the  good  and  the  bad.  The  most  of  the 
newcomers  were  honest  and  hard-working  men.  But 
the  wealth  they  dug  from  the  mine  was  of  less  value  be- 
cause of  the  difficulty  of  shipping  it  to  the  East.  There 
were  no  railroads  in  those  days,  and  every  package  of 
bullion  had  to  be  sent  overland  in  mail  coaches,  across 
long  stretches  of  country,  over  mountains  and  rivers  and 
plains,  through  dark  forests,  where  there  was  every  op- 
portunity for  attack  and  capture.  The  chance  of  booty 
was  so  great  that  it  drew  together  hundreds  of  desperate 
criminals  who  had  found  the  older  States  too  hot  to  hold 


206  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

them.  They  formed  themselves  into  bands,  and,  hiding 
in  some  dark  glen,  waited  till  their  accomplices  near  the 
mines  sent  word  that  a  large  shipment  would  be  made 
on  a  certain  day ;  when,  as  the  coach  climbed  slowly  up 
a  hill,  or  was  in  some  deep  gorge,  there  sprang  up  a 
dozen  men  with  masked  faces  and  levelled  guns,  who 
commanded  a  halt,  and  (while  the  passengers  stood 
trembling)  divided  the  spoil.  If  there  was  any  resistance, 
they  added  murder  to  robbery.  In  this  way  many  dis- 
appeared whose  bones  were  afterwards  found  in  some 
lonely  place  in  the  forest. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  that  had  been  going  on 
for  months,  till,  throug'h  this  whole  mining  country,  there 
was  a  reign  of  terror.  The  discovery  that  some  men 
who  had  been  supposed  to  be  honest  Avere  implicated  in 
these  robberies,  created  such  a  feeling  of  suspicion  that 
a  man  hardly  dared  to  trust  his  neighbor,  till  at  last  the 
very  enormity  of  the  crimes  provoked  retribution,  as,  in 
very  desperation,  a  few  men,  risking  their  own  lives  on 
the  issue,  took  the  law  into  their  own  hands  and  swept 
these  monsters  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

It  is  not  easy  to  forget  such  a  tragedy,  and  it  comes 
back  most  vividly  when  passing  over  the  dark  and  bloody 
ground  where  it  was  enacted.  As  I  remembered  even 
the  names  of  those  who  were  actors  in  it,  when  we  came 
back  to  Helena,  and  drove  into  the  town,  I  said  :  "  The 
man  I  want  to  see  is  Colonel  Sanders,"  who  was  the 
leader  of  the  Vigilantes,  and  was  afterwards  the  first 
man  to  represent  Montana  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  and  we  drove  straight  to  his  door.  At  last  I  found 
my  man.  He  received  me  with  a  heart}7  welcome  that 
emboldened  me  to  ask  all  sorts  of  questions ;  and  leaving 
my  friends  to  take  their  drive,  I  undertook  the  business 


MONTANA — THE   VIGILANTES  207 

(natural  to  ray  profession)  of  interviewing,  to  which  he 
submitted  with  such  docility  that,  not  only  as  we  sat  in 
his  hospitable  home,  but  as  we  walked  about  the  streets 
for  two  or  three  hours,  we  talked  of  little  else  but  the 
early  days  of  Montana.  It  is  a  long  story,  of  which  I 
can  give  only  the  substance,  and  this  I  will  try  to  do  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  his  own  words : 

"  When  I  first  came  to  this  country  over  thirty  years 
ago  (in  1863)  Montana  was  without  a  government.  There 
was  not  within  five  hundred  miles  a  judge  or  a  court  to 
which  a  man  could  appeal  for  protection  against  the 
rough  characters  that  always  drift  to  the  border.  If 
there  had  been  any  pretence  of  administering  justice,  it 
would  have  been  a  mere  form,  since  no  jury  would  con- 
vict in  the  presence  of  men  armed  with  shot-guns,  so  that 
violence  ruled  the  country.  This  state  of  things  grew 
worse  and  worse,  till  no  man  was  safe.  In  a  few  cases, 
where  men  had  been  caught  in  the  very  act  of  robbery 
or  murder,  and  were  executed  on  the  spot,  just  before 
they  were  swung  off  they  made  confessions  that  impli- 
cated many  who  had  not  been  suspected  before,  so  that 
we  knew  not  whom  to  trust.  A  man's  nearest  neighbor 
might  be  his  secret  enemy  ;  nobody  knew  what  a  day 
might  bring  forth." 

"  I  never  knew,"  said  a  gentle  voice,  that  of  the  noble 
woman  who  shared  his  fortunes  in  this  time  of  danger, 
"  when  my  husband  went  out  in  the  morning,  whether 
he  would  return  at  night." 

"  At  last,"  resumed  the  Colonel,  "  we  grew  desperate. 
It  was  better  to  die  than  to  live  in  such  a  community. 
Society  was  dissolved,  and  we  were  thrown  back  upon 
ourselves  for  protection.  There  were  a  few  of  us  who 
knew  one  another  well  enough  to  trust  and  be  trusted, 


208  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

and,  meeting  in  secret,  we  bound  ourselves  by  every  tie 
that  could  bind  men  together,  to  stand  by  one  another 
to  the  last.  So  was  organized  the  famous  band  of  Vigi- 
lantes. The  first  step  was  to  seize  the  ringleaders,  who 
had  been  so  daring  and  defiant  that  everybody  kne\v 
them,  if  they  did  not  know  the  rank  and  file.  If  we 
could,  by  a  quick  movement,  seize  them  and  disarm  them, 
their  folloAvers  would  be  left  without  leaders,  and  be  par- 
alyzed. So  Ave  struck  at  the  tall  heads  first.  To  those 
who  looked  on  from  the  outside,  it  seemed  an  amazing 
piece  of  audacity,  which  would  probably  fail,  when 
those  who  had  set  themselves  up  as  judges  and  execu- 
tioners would  have  a  swift  shrift.  The  ringleaders  were 
not  very  much  disturbed,  for  they  saw  many  ways  of 
escape,  but,  when  they  found  that  the  men  of  law  and 
order  were  in  dead  earnest,  they  took  a  more  subdued 
tone,  and  only  asked  for  a  fair  trial !  But  the  Vigilantes 
knew  too  well  what  that  meant — that  it  meant  delay,  with 
all  the  chances  of  rescue  and  escape,  or  of  a  man  on  the 
jury  who  would  stand  out  against  conviction.  And  so 
when  the  case  was  proved  (for  the  career  of  most  of 
these  men  was  notorious),  there  was  but  one  more  step — 
and  that  was  execution !  They  did  not  have  to  wait  for 
a  gallows ;  any  tree  in  the  forest  would  answer,  and  a 
strong  rope  thrown  round  the  limb  of  an  Oregon  fir 
with  the  other  end  in  the  hands  of  a  dozen  strong  men, 
would  quickly  put  an  end  to  the  career  of  the  boldest 
outlaw. 

"  These  executions  were  not  without  danger,  for  we 
knew  well  that  in  the  crowd  that  gathered  to  see  an  exe- 
cution there  were  many  who  were  in  sympathy  with  the 
victims.  But  the  Vigilantes  took  no  risk,  and  came  to 
the  scene  armed  to  the  teeth,  so  that  if  any  man  had 


MONTANA — THE   VIGILANTES  209 

lifted  a  hand  to  interfere  with  the  course  of  justice,  he 
would  have  been  shot  down  in  an  instant. 

"  Under  the  new  rule  of  law  and  order  the  ranks  of 
outlaws  thinned  out.  The  old  villains,  who  boasted 
of  the  number  of  their  murder's,  as  an  Indian  carries 
his  scalps  as  his  trophies,  saw  that  the  game  was  up, 
and  their  last  piece  of  bravado  was  to  show  that  they 
were  not  afraid  to  die.  One  famous  desperado,  who  had 
the  rope  round  his  neck,  and  saw  another  swinging  in 
the  air  and  making  fearful  struggles  for  release,  instead 
of  a  word  of  pity  for  his  comrade,  who  had  come  to 
such  an  end,  could  only  shout,  '  Kick  away,  old  Jack,  I'll 
be  in  hell  with  you  in  ten  minutes !  " 

"  The  most  extraordinary  case  Avas  that  of  a  man  who 
came  from  the  East,  and  belonged  to  a  respectable  fam- 
ily, and  bore  a  fair  reputation.  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
I  had  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  with  him  at  Thanks- 
giving (for  even  then  we  had  to  keep  up  an  appearance 
of  enjoying  ourselves),  for  which  he  made  great  prepara- 
tions, sending  off  four  hundred  miles  for  a  turkey,  for 
which  he  paid  forty  dollars  in  gold  !  It  might  have 
occurred  to  us  that  such  a  man  must  have  plenty  of 
money  to  spend,  and  got  it  in  an  easy  way.  But  we  did 
not  stop  to  think  of  anything  but  to  have  a  little  gayety 
in  the  midst  of  so  much  to  try  our  nerves  ;  and,  though 
it  was  a  backwoods  feast,  we  all  made  ourselves  as  merry 
as  we  could  in  those  grim  days.  Imagine  my  amaze- 
ment when,  shortly  after,  a  man  who  was  standing  on  the 
scaffold  made  a  full  confession,  in  which  he  '  gave  away  ' 
all  his  comrades ;  and  among  them — not  only  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  gang,  but  as  the  ringleader,  the  man  who 
plotted  all  the  robberies,  and  whose  hands  were  red  with 
a  dozen  murders — was  none  other  than  the  man  who  had 
14 


210  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

entertained  us  on  Thanksgiving  Day !  This  confession 
was  supplemented  by  evidence  from  without,  so  that  there 
was  no  possible  doubt  in  the  case,  and  it  became  my  duty 
to  arrest  the  very  man  whose  hospitality  I  had  accepted 
but  six  weeks  before  ! 

"  Never  shall  I  forget  the  scene  of  his  execution.  It 
was  in  the  winter,  and  at  night,  and  yet  it  was  not  dark, 
as  the  moon  was  shining  on  the  snow  that  covered  the 
ground,  when  the  Vigilantes  took  him  to  a  place  in  the 
woods.  Two  others  were  to  die  with  him,  who  begged 
piteously  for  the  mercy  they  had  never  shown  to  others. 
'  If  they  could  only  have  a  little  delay  ! '  '  Only  wait ! ' 
But  the  Yigilantes  knew  too  well  what  possibilities  there 
might  be  in  the  postponement  for  a  single  hour.  After 
them  came  the  leader,  whose  bravado  oozed  out  of  him 
as  he  came  to  his  inevitable  fate,  and  as  his  body  swung 
in  the  cold  winter  wind,  an  end  was  put  to  the  career  of 
one  of  the  most  notorious  villains  in  the  whole  catalogue 
of  crime ! " 

Is  this  a  harrowing  tale  to  be  told  on  the  very  spot 
where  such  scenes  occurred  ?  Yes,  indeed,  but  the  shed- 
ding of  blood  was  the  price  of  order  and  of  liberty.  Had 
not  this  league  of  men  of  law  and  order  taken  things 
into  their  own  hands,  Montana  would  not  have  been  a 
place  in  which  honest  men  and  women  could  live. 

After  all  this  time  of  seizures  and  executions  there 
was  a  great  silence  and  a  great  calm  all  round  the  hori- 
zon. Montana,  from  being  the  hunting  ground  of  rob- 
bers and  cut-throats,  was  the  most  quiet  and  peaceable 
of  all  the  Territories,  and  this  city  was  the  model  town 
on  the  border.  There  was  no  violence  in  her  streets. 
No  man  needed  to  lock  his  door,  to  guard  against  thieves. 
Even  if  a  stranger  should  drop  his  purse  in  the  streets, 


MONTANA — THE   VIGILANTES  211 

they  said,  no  passer-by  would  pick  it  up,  lest  he  should 
be  thought  to  have  stolen  it.  And  thus,  out  of  these 
terrible  scenes  came  the  reign  of  law,  which  made  pos- 
sible the  creation  of  the  beautiful  city  set  on  a  hill,  that 
bears  the  queenly  name  of  Helena,  and  is  the  capital  of 
Montana  to-day. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   YELLOWSTONE   PARK 

HEBE  beginneth  another  chapter  of  my  story.  We  had 
crossed  the  continent,  and  were  now  recrossing  it ;  and, 
if  we  had  not  measured  half  the  distance,  yet  in  that  long 
dark  Bozeman  Tunnel,  through  which  we  passed  yester- 
day, the  highest  point  of  which  is  over  a  mile  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  we  crossed  the  Continental  Divide,  and 
were  now  at  the  very  bottom  of  the  mountains.*  As  the 
descending  grade  had  doubled  our  speed,  we  were  liter- 
ally flying,  and  the  temptation  was  very  great  to  keep 
up  the  pace,  and  still  fly,  as  on  the  wings  of  the  morning, 
over  the  plains  to  our  Eastern  home. 

Why  should  we  stop  for  a  day  or  an  hour  ?  Will  the 
eye  never  be  satisfied  with  seeing  ?  Does  not  the  Bible 
tell  us  to  turn  off  our  eyes  from  beholding  vanity  ?  So  I 
could  have  reasoned  with  myself,  had  not  "  a  Peri  stand- 
ing at  the  gate"  suddenly  thrown  it  ajar,  and  given  us  a 
glimpse  of  something  that  could  not  be  seen  elsewhere 
in  all  the  round  world,  after  which  I  should  as  soon 
have  thought  of  passing  by  the  gates  of  heaven,  as  to 
turn  away  from  such  a  wonderland  when  the  gates  stood 
open  before  us. 

*  "At  Livingston  the  railroad  (going  westward)  crosses  the  Yel- 
lowstone for  the  last  time,  and  immediately  begins  the  ascent  of 
the  first  range  of  the  Rocky  Mountains." — Arnold  Hague. 


THE   YELLOWSTONE   PARK  213 

But  the  first  approach  did  not  promise  much.  Living- 
ston, where  the  traveller  leaves  the  Northern  Pacific,  is  a 
place  of  little  interest  except  as  a  railway  station.  Here 
we  passed  the  night.  In  the  morning  I  was  up  at  an 
early  hour,  and,  strolling  out  of  the  little  town,  came  to 
a  river  that,  like  all  mountain  streams,  was  rushing 
swiftly  over  its  bed.  "  What  is  this  ? "  I  asked  of  the 
first  countryman.  "  The  Yellowstone !  "  This  was  like 
coming  on  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  for,  like  the  great 
river  of  Africa,  the  Yellowstone  is  a  stream  of  high  birth 
and  long  descent,  rising  on  the  top  of  the  mountains  in 
a  lake  that  is  nearly  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea  (we  shall  see  it  by  and  by  and  sail  over  it), 
from  which  it  starts  on  its  career  over  a  continent.  If  I 
were  to  drop  a  rubber  ball  into  it,  it  would  float  down 
five  hundred  miles  to  the  Missouri,  and  two  thousand 
more  to  the  Mississippi,  and  over  a  thousand  more  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico — a  course  as  long  as  that  of  the 
Nile  from  the  lakes  of  Central  Africa  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

With  this  slight  suggestion  of  great  distances  to  whet 
our  appetite  for  the  vast  and  the  wonderful,  we  leave 
Livingston,  from  which  the  Northern  Pacific  Company, 
that  does  everything  for  everybody  in  this  region  of  the 
mid-continent,  has  built  a  side-road  from  its  trunk  line, 
fifty  miles  to  Cinnabar.  Here  we  say  good-bye  to  rail- 
roads, and  taking  our  seats  in  an  old-fashioned  stage- 
coach, begin  to  climb  the  hills.  As  soon  as  we  cross  the 
line  of  the  Yellowstone  Park,  we  see  that  we  are  in  a 
public  reservation.  Though  it  was  a  part  of  the  State 
of  Wyoming,  it  belongs  to  the  General  Government,  and 
is  under  the  nation's  care  for  protection.  The  roads, 
though  winding  through  gorges,  by  rapid  mountain 


214  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

streams,  are  laid  out  by  government  engineers,  and  built 
much  more  solidly  than  they  could  be  by  the  few  settlers 
scattered  over  hundreds  of  square  miles.  It  was  rather 
a  lonely  ride,  for  there  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  any  set- 
tled population,  the  only  life  that  is  passing  being  that  of 
the  parties  coming  and  going.  Our  driver  pointed  out  to 
us  one  old  settler,  a  bald-headed  eagle,  that  had  built  his 
nest  on  the  top  of  a  huge  pillar  of  rock,  from  which  he 
looked  down,  perchance  with  wonder  or  contempt,  upon 
those  who  had  dared  to  invade  his  domain. 

Though  it  is  but  seven  miles,  it  is  a  good  hour  and  a 
half's  pull  before  we  reach  the  point  where  we  wind 
round  a  cliff  and  come  in  sight  of  an  open  space,  sur- 
rounded by  a  number  of  buildings,  which,  with  the  ad- 
joining stables,  show  that  they  are  the  barracks  of  a  cav- 
alry post ;  while  the  flag  flying  over  the  largest  of  them 
indicates  the  official  residence  of  the  commanding  oificer. 
Here,  driving  round  the  open  grounds,  the  coach  reins  up 
at  the  Mammoth  Hot  Springs  Hotel. 

A  good  hotel  is  a  mark  of  civilization ;  and  here  we 
have  it  in  a  building  as  large  as  one  of  the  great  caravan- 
serais at  Saratoga,  capable  of  holding  several  hundred 
guests,  with  a  veranda  six  hundred  feet  long,  on  which 
the  travellers  gather  in  the  summer  evening  to  talk  over 
the  events  of  the  day. 

Hardly  were  we  settled  in  our  rooms  before  we  had  a 
call  from  Captain  Anderson,  to  whom  I  had  letters  from 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  from  General  Schofield, 
commending  us  to  his  courtesies.  He  was  full  of  kind- 
ness, but  regretted  that  he  had  not  the  means  of  contrib- 
uting as  he  would  to  our  pleasure,  inasmuch  as  almost 
his  whole  command  had  been  ordered  to  different  points 
along  the  railroad  to  protect  stations  and  bridges  and 


THE  YELLOWSTONE   PARK  215 

tunnels  from  the  attacks  of  strikers.  He  had  hardly  men 
enough  left  to  perform  sentinel  duty,  and  to  fire  the  gun 
at  sunrise  and  sunset.  Those  who  were  gone  had  taken 
their  horses  with  them,  which  might  be  needed,  in  case  of 
sudden  alarm,  to  transport  their  riders  to  some  threatened 
spot ;  so  that  he  had  hardly  a  team  left  with  which  to 
give  us  a  drive  of  a  few  miles  round  the  hotel.  I  thanked 
the  gallant  Captain  for  his  kind  intention,  but  assured 
him  that  his  brave  men  were  much  better  employed  than 
in  ministering  to  our  pleasure,  however  agreeable  such 
courtesies  might  be  in  more  peaceful  times. 

The  first  inquiry  of  a  stranger  is  for  the  Mammoth 
Hot  Springs,  which  give  name  to  the  place,  and  these 
are  not  far  to  seek.  They  are  not  springs  of  running 
water,  but  simply  the  overflow  of  mineral  substances 
that  have  been  dissolved  in  the  boiling  caldron  under  the 
earth  and  forced  upward  through  the  fissures  of  the 
rocks,  to  be  cooled  in  the  upper  air.  Thus  the  world  is 
turned  inside  out,  and  the  result  is  a  revelation.  "We 
have  read  of  the  gems  which 

"  The  dark,  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean  bear," 

but  here  the  very  rocks  under  our  feet  conceal  bits  of 
color  that,  when  brought  out,  shine  like  the  topaz  and 
the  emerald ;  and  when  these  varied  tints  are  spread  over 
a  surface  covering  many  acres,  causing  them  to  glisten 
with  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  anything  more  exquisite.  Nature  puts  on  her 
beautiful  garments,  now  arraying  herself  in  snowy  white, 
now  in  sky  blue,  and  now  in  darker  colors,  as  if  sud- 
denly clouds  had  come  over  the  sky.  The  effect  is  strange 
and  startling,  and  we  can  hardly  help  giving  a  mystic 
significance  to  the  scene  when  on  a  large  background 


216  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

of  dark  or  white  we  see  great  splashes  of  red,  as  If  nature 
had  received  some  deadly  wound,  and  were  sweating 
great  drops  of  blood  ! 

Such  a  pricking  of  the  veins  and  arteries  of  the  hard 
and  solid  globe,  we  believe,  has  no  parallel.  A  few  years 
since,  similar  "  terraces  "  were  discovered  in  New  Zea- 
land, which  were  the  subject  of  curious  observation  by 
all  the  men  of  science  who  visited  the  antipodes ;  but 
the  most  wonderful  of  these,  the  White  Terrace,  has 
since  been  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  so  that  the  phe- 
nomenon here  is  probably  the  most  remarkable  of  its 
kind  in  the  world. 

In  the  hotel  there  is  alwaj^s  a  crowd  of  strangers  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  among  whom  are  many  persons 
of  distinction.  It  was  good  to  see  the  face  of  that  grand 
old  soldier,  ex-Governor  Beaver,  of  Pennsylvania,  in  com- 
pany with  General  Hastings,  who  had  just  been  nomi- 
nated for  that  high  office.  He  has  since  been  elected  by 
an  overwhelming  majority. 

Another  gentleman  whom  we  met  here  for  the  first 
time  was  Mr.  Thomas  F.  Oakes,  late  President,  and  now 
Receiver,  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad.  I  am  coming 
to  look  upon  the  controllers  of  our  great  railroads  as 
among  the  most  important  men  in  the  country,  both  in 
the  possession  of  power,  and  in  the  capacity  to  wield  it. 
To  manage  a  railroad  system  extending  over  hundreds  or 
thousands  of  miles  requires  as  much  executive  ability  as  to 
be  the  governor  of  a  State  or  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
Of  this  class  of  men  is  Mr.  Oakes.  A  New  Englamler  by 
birth,  he  has  the  best  blood  of  old  Massachusetts  in  his 
veins.  A  graduate  of  Boston  schools,  he  left  them  to 
enter  the  army ;  and  when  the  war  was  over,  he,  like  so 
many  officers  of  rank,  turned  his  knowledge  of  engineer- 


THE   YELLOWSTONE   PARK  217 

ing  to  the  creation  and  equipment  of  those  great  high- 
ways that  were  beginning  to  stretch  out  their  long  arras 
across  the  continent.  He  has  been  connected  with  the 
Northern  Pacific  for  many  years,  and  was  now  on  a  tour 
of  inspection  of  all  its  western  connections,  in  the  course 
of  \vhich  he  turned  in  hither  for  a  few  days,  and  thus  it 
was  our  good  fortune  to  meet  him ;  and  as  we  were  for 
a  week  driving  over  the  same  roads,  and  resting  at  the 
same  hotels,  we  were  often  in  his  company,  and  to  his 
kindness  and  courtesy  we  owe  much  of  the  pleasure  of 
our  visit  to  the  Yellowstone  Park. 

The  next  morning  the  sunrise  gun  startled  us,  like  the 
blast  of  a  bugle,  and  there  was  mustering  in  hot  haste,  as 
the  chariots  of  war  were  set  in  battle  array.  For  chariots 
put  stout  coaches,  built  for  mountain  roads,  of  which  half 
a  dozen  rolled  up  to  the  broad  veranda,  to  take  on  board 
the  different  parties.  I  was  to  have  the  special  privilege 
of  sitting  on  the  box,  from  which  I  could  look  out  on  all 
sides  at  once,  and  take  in  the  full  glory  of  the  mountains. 
But  just  as  I  was  about  to  take  possession,  I  heard  a  voice 
beside  me,  "  Uncle,  would  you  mind  if  I  should  take  your 
seat  beside  the  driver?"  "Would  you  mind?"  Who 
could  stand  such  pleading  as  that  ?  "  Why  yes,  my  dear 
child,  of  course  you  can  have  it.  But  do  be  careful,  for 
you  know  the  danger ! "  I  was  the  more  anxious  because 
the  high  altitude  had  already  caused  her  head  to  swim. 
"  Sit  far  back  in  the  seat,  and  hold  fast  to  the  hand-rail  for 
support,  lest  any  jolt  in  going  down  the  mountain  should 
throw  you  over  the  board  and  under  the  horses'  feet ! " 

With  this  caution  I  felt  partly  assured,  but  still  kept 
putting  my  head  out  of  the  windows  to  see  if  all  was 
right.  But  I  fear  that  my  fatherly  warnings  were  soon 
forgotten ;  for  we  had  driven  but  a  mile  or  two,  when 


218  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

the  meek  and  obedient  little  miss  turned  quietly  to  the 
driver  and  asked  if  she  might  take  the  reins  !  He  thought 
it  more  prudent  to  keep  them  in  his  own  hands  till  we 
had  passed  over  the  steepest  ascents  and  descents ;  but  as 
soon  as  we  struck  a  more  level  road,  he  yielded  them 
gracefully,  and  she,  crossing  the  reins  so  as  to  give  her 
easy  control  of  her  four-in-hand,  kept  the  well-trained 
horses  on  a  good  round  trot  for  a  couple  of  hours  with- 
out the  slightest  indication  of  fear  or  weariness. 

This  first  day's  drive  is  pleasantly  relieved  by  an  hour's 
stop  at  Norris,  or  "  Larry's,"  a  sort  of  camp  in  the  woods, 
where  parties  coming  and  going  meet  to  take  lunch 
and  exchange  their  experiences.  Here  we  saw  our  first 
geyser,  which,  of  course,  was  an  object  of  wonder,  though 
put  out  of  sight  by  what  we  were  to  see  afterwards,  and 
indeed  before  the  close  of  the  day,  at  the  Fountain  Gey- 
ser Basin,  which  we  reached  in  the  afternoon.  Here  is 
a  whole  field  of  geysers,  that  boil  and  bubble,  and  fume 
and  sputter,  and  toss  their  spray  into  the  air. 

It  is  one  of  the  felicities  of  travelling  in  the  Yellow- 
stone Park,  that,  while  one  has  all  the  romance  of  a  life 
in  the  Avoods,  he  has  at  the  same  time  the  comforts  of 
civilization.  There  is  no  need  of  roughing  it.  Although 
the  Park  is  sixty-five  miles  long  by  fifty-five  wide,  it  is 
so  mapped  out  that  inside  of  a  week — indeed,  in  five  days 
— he  can  make  the  circuit  of  all  the  points  of  greatest 
interest,  travelling  over  good  roads,  and  sleep  every 
night  in  a  clean  bed.  But  if  one  wishes  to  take  it  more 
leisurely,  there  are  camping  parties  that  get  up  an  excur- 
sion by  themselves,  going  on  their  own  hook,  carrying 
their  own  provisions,  and  pitching  their  tents  under  the 
trees.  In  this  way  they  wander  about  at  will,  and  have 
a  good  time  at  very  little  expense. 


THE   YELLOWSTONE  PARK  219 

But  there  is  one  class  of  pleasure  seekers  for  whom 
this  is  not  the  place — those  who  are  after  sport.  This  is 
not  a  hunting  ground.  Fishing  is  permitted,  though 
only  with  hook  and  line,  but  not  hunting.  Indeed,  this 
is  the  one  thing  that  is  forbidden,  and  forbidden  under 
penalty  of  the  law.  The  reason  for  this  is  obvious. 
One  object  of  setting  aside  the  Park  is  to  have  a 
national  preserve  for  the  elk  and  the  buffalo,  and  other 
animals  that  are  native  to  our  plains  and  our  mountains, 
but  that  are  in  danger  of  becoming  extinct'.  Already 
the  buffaloes  that  once  covered  the  Western  prairies  are 
exterminated.  Here  there  is  a  herd  of  three  or  four 
hundred  that  are  kept  in  this  preserve  in  the  hope  of 
increase,  that  there  may  be  at  least  a  remnant  of  these 
native  Americans.  Lest  any  of  them  should  be  shot, 
no  man  is  allowed  to  bring  a  gun  into  the  Park.  If  he 
pleads  innocent  intentions,  and  only  wishes  to  have  it 
when  he  goes  away,  he  is  required  to  give  security  for  his 
good  behavior  in  having  the  trigger  strapped  and  sealed 
so  that  he  cannot  fire  it  off ;  and  if  he  breaks  his  faith, 
his  gun  is  taken  from  him  and  he  is  arrested.  How 
quickly  the  law  takes  him  in  hand,  I  saw  last  night  at 
the  Hot  Springs  Hotel,  Avhen  I  perceived  a  stir  in  the 
hall,  occasioned  by  a  man's  showing  himself  who,  some 
months  since,  had  shot  ten  or  a  dozen  buffaloes.  He  was 
at  once  tapped  on  the  shoulder  and  marched  over  to  the 
guard  house. 

Thus  watched  over  by  good  angels,  this  Park  is  the 
paradise  of  dumb  animals,  and  indeed  of  all  God's  creat- 
ures, except  where  man  has  smitten  it  with  a  curse. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  said  by  old  woodsmen  and 
hunters  that  the  elk  and  the  buffalo  know  that  they  are 
under  a  kind  of  protection.  This  I  did  not  believe  at 


220  OUR   WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

first,  and  don't  quite  believe  it  no\v ;  but  they  say  that 
if  any  of  the  herds  stray  across  the  border,  and  come 
within  the  range  of  the  hunter,  and  hear  the  crack  of 
a  rifle,  they  start  in  a  wild  stampede  for  the  Park,  and 
stop  not  till  they  are  within  the  pale  of  safety.  And 
not  only  elk  and  buffalo,  but  wild  animals  grow  tame. 
Man  and  beast  have  renounced  hostilities,  and  are 
brought  into  friendly  relations.  Even  bears,  that  are 
so  much  of  a  terror  to  settlers  in  the  woods,  have  joined 
the  peace  society,  and  if  they  do  not  "  eat  straw  like  the 
ox,"  yet  they  seem  so  far  domesticated  as  to  cease  to  be 
objects  of  fear  or  of  danger.  We  were  told  how  they 
come  about  the  houses  and  make  themselves  at  home. 
To  be  sure,  this  devotion  to  a  domestic  life  is  not  alto- 
gether disinterested,  for  they  are,  like  Tammany  poli- 
ticians, after  the  pickings  and  stealings,  and,  like  the  said 
politicians  again,  they  have  sensitive  nostrils  to  tell  them 
where  to  find  what  they  are  after.  If  there  has  been 
a  big  dinner  at  a  hotel,  they  snuff  the  fragrance  from 
afar,  and  it  is  a  temptation  that  no  bear's  virtue  can 
resist.  And  so  at  nightfall  they  come  out  of  the  woods, 
and  begin  to  snuff  round  the  kitchen,  and  put  their  noses 
into  the  tubs  which  contain  the  refuse  of  the  feast. 

At  the  Fountain  Hotel,  where  we  spent  the  first  night, 
they  told  us  the  bears  were  such  frequent  visitors  that 
they  did  not  take  any  notice  of  them.  "  Why,  only  last 
night,"  said  one  of  the  boys,  "  we  had  quite  a  '  posse ' 
of  them.  Big  and  little,  old  bears  and  cubs,  I  counted 
thirteen !  They  came  round  to  the  kitchen  behind  the 
house,  and  poked  into  everything,  and  had  lots  of  fun !  " 
But  a  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the  bush,  and  a 
bear  that  I  see  with  my  own  eyes  is  worth  a  dozen  that  I 
hear  about.  So  I  answered  :  "  You  say  you  had  a  dozen 


THE   YELLOWSTONE   PARK  221 

last  night ;  show  me  one ! "  "  Well,"  said  the  boy,  appar- 
ently chagrined  that  I  did  not  quite  trust  him,  "  there  is 
one  out  in  the  lot  now ! "  "  Where  is  he  ? "  I  cried  ; 
"  show  him  to  me !  "  Whereupon  he  led  the  way  across 
the  field  in  the  rear  of  the  house  to  the  edge  of  the  wood, 
and  sure  enough  there  stood  a  huge  cinnamon  bear,  nos- 
ing among  some  tin  cans  for  the  remnants  of  delicacies 
that  might  still  be  toothsome  to  his  royal  taste.  He 
did  not  show  any  fierceness  at  our  appearance,  but  now 
and  then  raised  his  head  and  looked  us  in  the  face.  Of 
course,  if  he  had  taken  a  step  towards  us,  we  should 
have  found  discretion  the  better  part  of  valor,  but  as  he 
did  not  move,  we  plucked  up  courage  to  advance  a  little 
nearer,  followed,  at  a  safe  distance,  by  stragglers  from 
the  hotel;  whereupon  Bruin,  instead  of  charging  upon 
us,  turned  his  huge  bulk,  and  moved  off,  not  rapidly,  but 
with  proper  dignity,  back  into  the  woods  and  partly  up 
the  hill.  But  he  was  a  peaceable  old  gentleman,  for 
he  walked  right  into  a  pasture  where  the  cows  were 
grazing,  that  did  not  even  raise  their  heads,  but  went  on 
cropping  the  grass.  They  let  the  bear  alone,  and  he  let 
them  alone !  As  to  "  the  humans  "  on  the  other  side  of 
the  fence,  if  the  bear  had  any  thoughts  about  it,  no  doubt 
it  was  that  we  were  very  uncivil  to  intrude  upon  his 
domain.  But,  as  we  did  not  attempt  active  hostilities, 
he,  like  the  king  of  Spain,  having  marched  up  the  hill, 
now  marched  down  again,  and  was  soon  engaged  in 
what  is  one  great  duty  of  bears  as  well  as  of  men,  eat- 
ing his  supper ;  whereupon  Mabel  and  I,  like  two  foolish 
children,  real  "  Babes  in  the  Wood,"  ran  towards  him ; 
Of  course,  if  he  had  stood  his  ground,  or  moved  a  single 
step  towards  us,  we  should  have  been  frightened  out  of 
our  wits  and  run  for  dear  life.  But,  lo !  the  monster 


222          OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

once  more  "  turned  tail,"  and  retreated  into  the  forest, 
where,  for  obvious  reasons,  we  did  not  care  to  pursue 
the  subject !  Of  course,  we  were  immensely  set  up  by 
our  victory,  though  it  suggested  to  me  a  moral  reflection, 
that  what  is  called  victory  is  not  always  owing  to  the 
courage  of  the  assailant,  but  quite  as  often  to  the  cow- 
ardice of  his  opponent !  It  would  have  been  more  in 
accordance  with  poetical  justice  if  the  bear  had  turned 
on  the  "  Babes  in  the  Wood  "  and  torn  them  in  pieces ; 
though  in  that  case,  to  complete  the  tragic  history,  it 
would  have  been  necessary  that  the  robins  should  come 
and  cover  the  babes  with  the  leaves  of  the  forest ! 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE   GEYSERS. 

IT  was  the  last  day  of  July,  when  the  heat  of  summer 
not  only  quivered  in  the  upper  air,  but  dropped  down 
into  the  cool  depths  of  the  woods.  But  this  warmth 
only  made  the  shade  more  grateful,  and  through  the 
lights  and  shadows  we  wound  our  way,  enjoying  again 
the  indescribable  charm  of  a  drive  through  the  primeval 
forest.  But  the  great  event  of  the  day  was  to  be  a  full 
view  of  the  geysers,  of  which  we  had  a  first  sight  at  the 
Lower  Geyser  Basin,  and  now  were  to  have  the  culmi- 
nation. An  hour's  drive  brought  us  to  the  Excelsior,  a 
name  that  describes  its  past  glory  rather  than  its  present 
performance.  Indeed,  it  is  now  a  cluster  of  hot  springs 
and  bubbling  pools,  that  spread  over  what  is  called  Hell's 
Half- Acre.  This  is  a  bad  name  to  give  to  any  portion  of 
God's  earth,  as  if  it  were  accursed  ;  but  I  am  afraid  there 
was  a  time  when  it  deserved  it,  when  the  evil  spirit  con- 
fined in  the  caverns  below  broke  loose,  and  burst  its  bars 
asunder,  and  threw  up  a  mighty  column  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  into  the  air,  which  descended  like  molten 
lava,  destroying  everything  it  touched,  like  an  eruption  of 
Vesuvius.  It  did  not,  indeed,  set  fire  to  cities  like  Pompeii 
and  Herculaneum,  but  it  made  the  waters  boil  like  a  pot, 
turning  the  Firehole  River  into  a  steaming  caldron, 
that  was  instant  death  to  man  or  beast  that  put  so  much 


224  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

as  a  foot  into  the  scalding  pool.  While  such  eruptions 
lasted,  this  geyser  was  not  only  Excelsior,  but  stood  alone, 
as  a  display  of  the  forces  that  are  at  work  in  the  interior 
of  the  globe.  But  the  very  intensity  of  the  explosion  ex- 
hausted its  force,  so  that  after  a  few  months  of  rage  and 
fury,  the  old  Excelsior  sank  down  into  quietness,  and  now 
is  a  name  of  terror  to  the  world  only  because  of  its  former 
greatness. 

In  the  study  of  nature  it  is  better  to  go  from  the  dead 
to  the  living  than  from  the  living  to  the  dead,  and  so  we 
are  kept  in  pleased  expectancy  as  we  pass  from  the  field 
of  a  spent  geyser,  which  is  like  a  burnt-out  volcano,  to 
the  field  of  a  great  number  that  are  in  full  activity,  for 
such  is  the  Upper  Geyser  Basin.  Here  the  under-world 
is  all  alive.  The  hammer  of  Yulcan  is  ever  ringing  in 
the  cavern  in  which  he  forges  his  thunderbolts,  and  if  it 
be  not  fire  and  smoke  that  issue  from  the  earth,  there  is 
a  constant  letting  off  of  steam,  with  a  throwing  up  of 
great  columns,  like  water-spouts  in  the  ocean,  the  signs 
and  proofs  of  the  tremendous  forces  that  are  working 
far  down  in  this  terrestrial  sphere.  As  we  come  into  the 
basin  which  is  the  field  of  action,  we  find  the  geysers 
increase  in  number  and  in  variety.  Ko  two  are  alike. 
Each  has  an  individuality  of  its  own,  as  it  has  its  pecul- 
iar formation.  Here,  for  example,  is  the  Castle,  which 
has  the  figure  of  a  small  fortress,  surrounded  by  walls,  to 
which  is  given  an  addition  to  its  military  appearance  by 
the  presence  of  a  soldier,  who  keeps  guard  that  visitors 
do  not  throw  substances  into  it  that  might  so  mix  with 
the  elements  below  as  to  cause  a  dangerous  explosion. 

As  some  of  the  geysers  are  majestic  in  size,  others  are 
small  in  comparison.  These  I  call  young  ge}Tsers,  that 
have  not  yet  come  to  man's  estate,  but  that,  like  pre- 


THE   GEYSEKS  225 

cocious  children,  are  eager  to  show  themselves,  and  so 
put  their  heads  out  of  the  ground,  and  fume  and  sputter 
as  if  they  were  of  some  importance,  as  indeed  they  would 
be  if  they  were  not  overshadowed  by  the  monarchs  of 
that  nether- world  to  which  they  belong. 

The  great  field  of  observation  of  the  geysers  is  a 
plateau  that  has  been  formed  by  the  overflow  of  the 
many  that  are  in  constant  action.  It  is  a  somewhat  slip- 
pery surface  over  which  we  picked  our  way,  observing 
the  differing  size  and  shapes  which  give  names  to  the 
more  noted  among  them.  Now  the  incrustations  have 
grown  up  into  something  like  a  Beehive.  Again  it  is  a 
Lion  Couchant,  not  far  from  whose  noble  form  is  that  of 
the  Lioness ;  and  a  little  distance  from  their  father  and 
mother  is  an  interesting  group  of  young  lions,  mere  cubs, 
but  which  have  a  lively  appearance  that  gives  promise 
of  the  full  leonine  stature  to  which  they  may  grow. 

The  effect  of  so  many  geysers  going  off  at  once  is  not 
unlike  that  at  sea  when  a  shoal  of  porpoises  come  round 
a  ship,  leaping  and  spouting,  and  follow  in  the  long  track 
behind.  Or,  to  take  a  more  grave  and  clerical  illustration, 
as  I  looked  round  on  this  great  assembly  that  was  all 
alive  and  somewhat  vociferous,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I 
was  in  a  camp-meeting,  that  was  in  such  a  state  of 
excitement  that  half  of  those  present  rose  to  speak  at 
once,  while  those  who  were  trying  to  keep  silent  could 
not  altogether  hold  their  peace,  but  responded,  now  with 
groans,  and  now  with  amens  and  hallelujahs  !  It  was  a 
thoroughly  Methodist  congregation,  and  yet,  among  so 
many  effervescent  brethren,  it  was  gratifying  to  see  one 
grand  old  Presbyterian,  and  he  the  patriarch  of  them  all, 
who,  because  of  his  regularity  and  uniformity,  has  been 
christened  Old  Faithful.  I  call  him  a  Presbyterian, 
15 


226  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

because  he  is  always  on  time ;  you  always  know  where 
to  find  him.  As  for  the  common  run  of  geysers,  they 
come  at  all  hours,  with  or  without  warning;  and  behave 
in  such  an  irregular  way,  breaking  out  in  spots,  and 
doing  the  most  unexpected  things,  that  they  are  not  to  be 
depended  upon.  But  Old  Faithful  comes  and  goes  by  the 
clock.  It  is  said  of  the  old  Puritan  divines  that  they 
preached  with  an  hour-glass  on  the  pulpit,  and  when  the 
sands  were  run  out,  instead  of  letting  the  sermon  run 
out  also,  simply  turned  the  glass  upside  down,  with  the 
cheering  exhortation,  "  Now,  brethren,  let  us  take  another 
hour ! "  Old  Faithful  requires  a  little  more  time  to  get 
his  "  second  wind,"  but  at  the  end  of  sixty-five  minutes 
exactly,  he  speaks  in  a  tone  that  all  must  hear. 

Knowing  his  regular  habits,  the  congregation  comes 
together  at  the  appointed  hour,  where,  in  front  of  the 
pulpit,  at  a  safe  distance,  is  a  rude  bench,  such  as  one 
may  find  at  a  camp-meeting  in  the  woods.  I  would 
not  call  it  a  "  mourners'  bench,"  nor  an  "  anxious  seat," 
though  it  is  certainly  occupied  by  those  who  are  in  a 
lively  state  of  expectancy,  both  as  listeners  and  spec- 
tators. 

For  my  part,  I  did  not  sit  at  all,  but  walking  up  the 
slippery  mound  formed  by  the  overflow  of  the  geyser, 
leaned  over  the  edge  and  looked  down  the  monster's 
throat.  There  was  not  much  to  see,  and  herein  I  was 
disappointed,  for  I  had  imagined  that  the  greatest  of  the 
geysers  would  speak  through  a  mighty  trumpet ;  that  his 
throat,  if  not  quite  like  the  crater  of  a  volcano,  would 
at  least  be  a  large  aperture,  massive  and  well  rounded, 
like  a  well  bored  by  Titans  into  the  heart  of  the  earth. 
And  the  walls  must  be  smooth,  for,  as  the  waters  wear 
away  stones,  the  rocks  must  be  polished  like  marble  by 


THE   GEYSEES  227 

the  constant  rush  from  below.  But,  instead  of  that,  I 
saw  only  black  and  jagged  projections,  which,  if  they 
had  ever  been  smoothed,  had  been  rent  again  by  fresh 
explosions,  so  that  they  were  still  blasted  and  torn. 

It  was  not  yet  sermon  time,  and  the  preacher  was  not 
quite  ready  to  begin,  but  he  had  already  great  wrest- 
lings of  heart,  and  was  clearing  his  throat  to  give  them 
utterance.  "We  heard  rumblings  and  mutterings,  and 
once  or  twice  I  felt  a  splash  in  my  face  that  would  have 
scalded  me  to  the  bone  had  it  not  been  instantly  cooled 
by  exposure  to  the  air.  These  little  love  taps  I  did  not 
mind,  but  I  had  been  all  the  time  keeping  what  a  sailor 
would  call  his  "weather  eye"  out  for  anything  more 
serious,  and  now  did  not  stand  on  the  order  of  my 
going,  but  retired  with  more  haste  than  dignity. 

Then  we  heard  the  thunder  of  his  voice.  It  was  not, 
indeed,  like  a  thunder-clap,  sharp  and  startling  as  the 
crack  of  doom,  but  more  like  the  inrolling  of  the  sea, 
with  the  foaming  crest  of  the  wave  riding  in  advance  to 
tell  of  the  mighty  billow  that  is  behind.  When  this 
came  in  its  strength,  it  threw,  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
in  the  air,  a  column  of  water  that  must  have  been  tons 
in  weight,  but  that  was  hurled  upward  with  such  veloc- 
ity that  it  had  an  airy  lightness,  and,  broadening  at  the 
top,  fell  in  a  shower  of  spray  all  around.  And  then  with 
what  grace  the  majestic  form  withdrew  from  the  scene  ! 
It  did  not  collapse,  nor  fall  flat,  but  retired  like  some 
spirit  of  the  air,  lowering  itself,  not  instantaneously,  but 
by  degrees,  stooping  and  rising  again,  as  some  royal 
personage  who,  after  giving  audience  to  his  court, 
retires,  bowing  to  the  right  and  left,  and  is  gone. 

So  transcendent  was  the  beauty  of  the  scene,  that  it 
seemed  as  if  one  could  never  weary  of  it,  and,  as  we 


228  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

stayed  here  till  the  next  day,  I  saw  it  repeatedly.  If  it 
could  be  more  beautiful  at  one  time  than  another,  per- 
haps the  most  wonderful  display  that  I  witnessed  was 
the  next  morning  a  little  after  sunrise.  I  had  risen  early 
for  the  purpose,  and  taken  a  seat  at  a  window  which 
looked  right  toward  Old  Faithful,  but  a  few  rods  distant, 
where  I  could  keep  my  eye  on  him  even  while  I  was 
writing,  and  my  ear  too,  to  hear  his  first  mutterings ;  and 
the  moment  I  caught  the  sound  I  dropped  everything, 
and  in  an  instant  was  all  eye  and  ear  for  but  one  object. 
As  I  was  the  only  person  up  in  the  hotel,  except  the  ser- 
vants, he  gave  this  performance  for  me  alone,  and  cer- 
tainly he  never  played  his  part  more  to  perfection.  In 
this  he  was  helped  by  the  new-risen  sun,  whose  rays 
shot  through  the  veil  of  mist  that  hung  in  the  sky.  That 
sunlight  was  more  than  a  bow  in  the  cloud ;  it  was  as  if 
the  Divine  Presence  itself  was  throned  on  the  cloud,  shed- 
ding light  and  joy  and  hope  on  the  new-born  world. 

It  is  hard  to  come  down  from  this  mount  of  vision  to 
mere  science — which  to  most  observers  of  nature  is  mere 
materialism.  But  we  cannot  help  asking,  What  do  these 
geysers,  with  their  attendant  phenomena,  reveal  to  us  in 
regard  to  the  constitution  of  our  globe  ?  Is  it  solid  ?  Or 
is  it  hollow  ?  If  the  latter,  is  there  any  life  in  its  inte- 
rior ?  Or  do  the  elements  alone — fire  and  water  and  gravi- 
tation— have  universal  sway  ?  Are  there  "  waters  under 
the  earth  "  ?  Is  there  an  ocean  that  sweeps  from  pole  to 
pole,  rolling  and  resounding  where  there  is  no  eye  to  see 
and  no  ear  to  hear  ? 

These  questions  are  not  new ;  they  have  exercised  the 
minds  of  men  for  ages;  and  the  less  men  knew  about 
this  great  mystery,  the  more  they  gave  way  to  their 
imaginations.  In  the  ancient  mythology  there  was  an 


THE   GEYSERS  229 

under-world,  that  was  the  place  of  departed  spirits,  who 
inhabited  "the  shades,"  and,  recalling  their  past  evil 
lives,  were  filled  with  remorse,  as  they  wandered  on  the 
"  dark  Plutonian  shore." 

Even  Christian  theology  has  been  invaded  by  these 
fancies,  and  the  interior  of  the  earth  has  been  thought  to 
be  the  abode  of  the  damned,  where  the  universal  gloom, 
the  darkness  that  may  be  felt,  is  but  the  outward  token 
of  their  mental  state — their  horror  and  despair.  All  these 
are  subjects  on  which  it  is  much  easier  to  ask  questions 
than  to  answer  them  ;  and  into  this  realm  of  darkness  I 
seek  not  to  explore. 


CHAPTEK  XXIII 

THE    LAKE   AND   THE   KIVEE 

THE  next  morning  I  sat  for  more  than  two  hours  at 
the  window  writing,  and  keeping  watch  of  Old  Faithful, 
who  gave  two  grand  performances  for  my  sole  benefit. 
But  he  was  not  the  only  object  of  wonder  or  curiosity. 
My  attention  was  divided  between  the  great  geyser,  and 
looking  for  a  bear  who  had  taken  up  his  quarters  at  the 
hotel.  He  was  not  an  old  acquaintance,  as  he  had  come 
from  the  woods  only  a  week  or  two  before,  but  was  of 
such  a  domestic  turn  of  mind  that  he  made  himself  at 
home  anywhere,  whether  "  under  the  greenwood  tree," 
or  under  a  house  or  a  barn.  But  in  coming  to  abide  with 
men,  he  did  not  submit  to  be  a  servant  under  bondage, 
to  be  confined  in  a  cage,  or  held  by  a  chain  ;  but  was 
a  free  and  independent  citizen,  free  in  all  his  goings 
out  and  comings  in,  as  if  he  took  the  place  of  a  faithful 
old  servitor,  who  has  earned  the  right  to  have  his  own 
way ;  to  have  the  run  of  the  kitchen,  or  what  was 
thrown  out  from  the  kitchen ;  and  in  all  respects  to  live 
as  a  pensioner  of  the  family. 

Presenting  himself  in  this  inoffensive  manner,  it  was 
but  a  natural  return  of  good  will  that  no  one  interfered 
with  the  new  visitor.  He  came  and  went  with  the  free- 
dom of  an  honored  guest.  Nobody  troubled  him ;  no 
boys  threw  stones  at  him ;  nobody  called  him  bad 


THE  LAKE  AND  THE  RIVER          231 

names,  as  if  he  were  a  tramp  or  a  vagabond.  He  was 
a  decent  member  of  society,  who  went  on  the  principle 
of  live  and  let  live.  Like  a  sensible  old  gentleman,  he 
spent  a  good  deal  of  his  time  in  sleep.  But  asleep  or 
awake  he  was  not  looked  upon  as  an  intruder  or  a 
beggar,  but  as  a  privileged  member  of  the  household. 

What  a  picture  of  primeval  innocence  and  peace !  I 
was  curious  to  see  this  addition  to  the  family,  and  asked 
"  Where  is  he  ?  "  with  vague  suspicions  that  he  might  be 
a  myth.  But  "  No,  no,"  said  the  innkeeper ;  "  by  and 
by  he  will  make  his  appearance.  Perhaps  he  is  here 
now!"  With  that  he  went  about  the  house,  looking 
underneath  it,  till  suddenly  he  exclaimed,  "  Why,  there  he 
is ! "  I  was  down  on  my  knees  in  an  instant,  and  sure 
enough,  right  under  the  floor,  indeed  under  my  very  feet, 
where  I  had  been  writing,  was  what  might  be  a  bear  or  a 
buffalo.  The  next  thing  was  to  stir  him  up,  and  make 
him  show  himself.  The  master  of  the  house  tried  to 
poke  him  with  a  stick,  but  had  not  one  long  enough. 
Then  he  threw  stones  at  him.  But  the  thick  brown  hair 
was  proof  against  stones,  and  the  burly  old  creature  slept 
on  with  proper  contempt  of  the  pygmies  that  were  trying 
to  disturb  his  repose.  I  confess  I  rather  respected  him 
for  his  royal  indifference  to  his  puny  assailants.  The 
landlord  apologized  for  his  want  of  deference  to  his 
visitors,  but  explained  it  thus :  "  The  old  fellow  takes 
his  time  about  everything.  He  has  probably  been  off  in 
the  woods  to  visit  his  family,  to  see  Mrs.  Bear  and  his 
children  or  grandchildren,  and  is  now  a  little  tired.  By 
and  by  he  will  wake  up  and  feel  hungry,  and  then  he 
will  come  round  to  the  door  for  his  breakfast,  which  he 
will  take  from  our  hands  as  if  he  were  a  Newfoundland 
dog." 


232  OUR   WESTERN    ARCHIPELAGO 

This  was  a  pretty  story,  and  my  happiness  would  have 
been  complete  if  the  "  old  fellow  "  had  only  waked  up  a 
little  sooner,  and  I  could  have  looked  squarely  in  his 
honest  face,  and  patted  him  and  petted  him,  stroking 
his  long  hair,  and  having  him  eat  out  of  my  hand,  which 
would  have  been  a  beautiful  sign  of  the  brotherhood  of 
man  with  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  the  lower  creat- 
ures. 

When  it  came  to  bidding  good-by  to  the  geysers, 
and  continuing  our  excursion  through  the  Park,  I  found 
that  a  new  state  of  things  was  developed.  My  junior 
partner  had  awakened  to  find  herself  famous.  Her 
handling  of  the  reins  had  given  her  a  reputation  among 
the  coach  drivers.  Even  Mr.  Huntley  (who  is  in  the 
Park  what  in  England,  in  the  royal  household,  would  be 
called  Master  of  the  Horse)  looked  upon  her  with  a  new 
respect,  and  invited  her  to  ride  in  a  light  carriage,  with 
a  pair  of  spirited  horses  that  he  would  trust  to  no  one  but 
himself;  to  which  I  assented,  thinking  that  he  might 
allow  her  to  please  herself  with  the  idea  that  she  was 
driving  for  a  mile  or  two  along  the  level  road,  while  the 
real  security  was  in  his  own  strong  hands. 

When  our  youthful  charioteer  (whom,  to  tell  the 
truth,  I  had  looked  upon  as  rather  ornamental  than 
useful)  was  thus  transferred,  I  was  restored  to  the  place 
on  the  box  that  was  originally  designed  for  me,  where  I 
took  my  seat  beside  a  driver  who  was  quite  a  character ; 
who  not  only  knew  every  mile  of  the  road,  every  twist 
and  turn,  every  rock  and  cliff,  every  stream  and  water- 
fall, but  who  had  roughed  it  on  the  border  for  years, 
and  had  a  life  that  was  not  without  incident.  He  had 
been  up  and  down  the  Pacific  Coast;  had  visited  Alaska, 
and  crossed  the  mountains  by  the  Indian  trail  to  the 


THE  LAKE  AND  THE  RIVER  233 

valley  of  the  Yukon,  allured  by  the  marvellous  tales 
of  gold,  which  he  found  half  true ;  but  the  hope  of 
riches  was  abated  by  the  fact  that  the  country  is  for 
three-quarters  of  the  year  covered  with  snow,  during 
which  the  miners  have  to  hibernate.  And  so  he  came 
back  a  poorer  as  well  as  a  sadder  and  a  wiser  man. 
But  his  bad  luck  did  not  sour  his  temper,  nor  make  him 
curse  the  world.  He  took  it  all  with  a  rough  backwoods 
philosophy,  and  told  the  story  of  his  experiences  and 
adventures  with  a  dry  mother-wit  that  was  very  enter- 
taining. For  a  day  in  a  '•'  mountain  land  "  one  could  not 
ask  a  better  fellow  to  be  his  companion  and  guide  than 
Billy  Maine. 

The  ride  through  the  woods  has  a  variety  which  gives 
it  a  constant  novelty  and  interest.  It  is  not  all  one 
dense,  impenetrable  forest,  but  here  and  there  are  great 
openings,  where  giant  trees  stand  alone,  as  in  an  English 
park.  Now  and  then  the  road  comes  to  the  verge  of 
high  cliffs.  At  one  point  we  drew  up  by  the  roadside, 
and  stepped  out  upon  a  pile  of  rocks,  that  towered  above 
a  gorge  that  it  made  my  head  swim  even  to  look  down 
upon. 

Of  course  our  progress  was  slow,  because  it  was  all  ups 
and  downs.  Twice  we  crossed  the  Continental  Divide, 
from  the  Atlantic  slope  to  the  Pacific,  and  back  again. 
In  climbing  upward,  Billy,  like  the  good  and  careful 
driver  that  he  is,  was  very  gentle  to  his  horses,  never 
cracking  the  whip,  or  urging  them  to  speed.  But  when 
at  last  he  reached  the  summit,  and  had  given  them  a 
good  breathing  spell,  he  touched  them  lightly,  saying, 
"  Now  we  must  make  up  for  lost  time,"  and  the  stalwart 
team  responded  as  one  that  knew  its  master.  First  it 
was  a  gentle  trot,  but  soon  grew  faster  and  faster,  till  we 


234  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

swung  round  the  turns  in  the  road  with  a  swiftness  that 
made  me  take  firm  grasp  of  the  hand-rail  lest  I  should  be 
thrown  from  my  perch  over  upon  the  tops  of  the  trees 
that  covered  the  mountain  side. 

But  no  sense  of  danger  could  make  us  insensible  to  th< 
sublimity  of  the  scene  that  opened  before  us  as  we  crossed 
the  Divide  for  the  second  time.  Away  over  the  tops  of 
the  trees,  over  the  sea  of  mountains,  we  caught  sight 
of  another  sea,  embosomed  in  these  mighty  solitudes,  and 
yet  itself  so  high  that  it  seemed  almost  as  if  it  belonged 
to  some  other  world  than  ours.  This  language  is  hardly 
extravagant  when  it  is  considered  that  in  altitude  it 
stands  alone  in  North  America,  as  there  is  no  other  body 
of  water  at  once  so  large  and  so  high,  being  twenty  miles 
long  and  sixteen  miles  broad,  and  nearly  eight  thousand 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea !  But  it  is  not,  as  repre- 
sented in  some  of  the  guide  books,  the  highest  in  the 
world.  Lake  Titicaca,  in  Peru,  up  in  the  Andes,  is 
twelve  thousand  eight  hundred  feet  above  sea  level,  and 
eighty  miles  long  and  forty  broad!  It  is  also  near  a 
city  of  five  thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  navigated. 

But  descending  to  the  shore,  we  find  that  the  sea — 
which  is  none  other  than  the  Yellowstone  Lake — has,  in 
spite  of  its  elevation,  its  familiar  surroundings.  Here  is 
a  sort  of  camp,  with  the  tents  pitched,  where  we  can  sit, 
as  it  were,  under  the  palm  trees,  and  take  our  rest  and 
refreshment,  with  a  pebbled  beach  leading  down  to  the 
water,  where  a  little  steamboat  is  waiting  to  take  us 
down  the  lake. 

Of  course,  my  first  anxiety  was  for  my  child,  who  had 
been  whirled  over  the  mountains  with  more  speed  than 
suited  my  fancy  for  a  sober  Presbyterian  gait.  But  I 
felt  assured  that  no  accident  could-  happen  with  the 


THE  LAKE  AND  THE  RIVER          235 

Master  of  the  Horse  in  command.  Imagine  my  surprise 
to  hear  him  say,  "  I  never  touched  the  reins !  "  "  And 
you  dared  to  trust  your  life,  going  up  and  down  these 
mountains  for  nineteen  miles,  to  that  child  !  "  He  had 
told  me  that  no  woman  had  ever  driven  his  "  crack 
team "  except  his  wife,  who,  having  lived  on  a  ranche 
in  the  beautiful  Gallatin  Yalley,  had  had  the  training 
that  one  gets  on  the  great  plains  of  Montana,  and  could 
almost  drive  a  wild  buffalo.  "  Next  to  her,"  he  said, 
"  your  niece  is  the  best  woman  driver  I  ever  saw.  She 
holds  the  reins  beautifully."  And  then  he  went  on  to 
explain,  with  the  enthusiasm  of  an  artist,  just  how  she 
held  them.  "  She  does  not  fret  the  horses,  but  gives 
them  their  freedom,  while  she  keeps  them  firmly  in 
hand."  To  all  this  I  listened  with  a  mixed  feeling  of 
pleasure  and  of  pain — pain  that  she  should  be  a  child  no 
more.  Oh,  dear !  oh,  dear !  to  think  that  my  poor  little 
chicken,  that  was  hardly  out  of  the  hen-coop,  should  take 
to  herself  the  airs  of  womanhood,  and  even  now  turn 
back  her  soft,  tender,  and  pitying  eyes  on  her  fond  old 
uncle ! 

This  sober  reflection  was  somewhat  relieved  by  the 
change  from  the  carriage  to  the  boat,  where  we  saw 
before  us  what  might  have  been  one  of  the  Swiss  lakes, 
embosomed  in  some  deep  Alpine  valley.  But  there  is 
one  difference — our  Alpine  lake  is  not  only  embosomed 
among  the  mountains,  but  throned  above  the  moun- 
tains. If  Mount  Washington  were  planted  in  this  very 
spot  the  waves  would  not  only  roll  over  him  and  bury 
him  out  of  sight,  but  only  deep-sea  soundings  could 
touch  the  tallest  pine  upon  his  lofty  head.  This  single 
fact  increased  our  respect  for  our  American  lake,  albeit 
it  is  little  known  even  among  ourselves,  and  almost 


236  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

unknown  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  And  when  we  came 
to  sail  over  it,  and  I  thought  of  these  heights  and  depths, 
a  strange  feeling  came  over  me  (perhaps  it  was  the  effect 
of  imagination)  that,  as  we  were  breathing  a  higher 
atmosphere  than  that  of  the  world  below,  so  all  our 
surroundings  were  on  a  higher  plane;  the  very  clouds 
hung  lower,  and  the  vault  above  came  nearer,  until  we 
were  literally  floating  between  the  earth  and  sky. 

But  no  nearness  to  heaven  could  abate  the  gayety  of 
such  a  party  as  ours,  and  the  group  that  gathered  on  deck, 
perhaps  exhilarated  by  the  lighter  and  purer  air  of  this 
high  altitude,  was  in  a  state  of  joyous  excitement ;  while 
the  young  lady,  who  in  the  morning  had  shown  herself 
such  a  whip,  was  now  invited  into  the  pilot-house,  where 
the  sailor  at  the  wheel  was  so  much  pleased  by  her  pres- 
ence that  he  gallantly  asked  her  to  take  his  place,  so  that 
for  an  hour,  although  he  stood  by  her  and  told  her  in 
what  direction  to  steer,  her  hand  guided  the  boat  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  her  superior  officer;  and  indeed  I 
think  he  would  have  been  willing  to  take  her  as  a  pupil 
in  his  profession.  Nor  would  that  have  been  a  useless 
accomplishment.  Boating  is  by  no  means  an  unwomanly 
exercise.  A  little  knowledge  of  how  to  turn  a  wheel  or 
a  tiller,  or  to  use  the  oar,  might  save  a  young  woman 
from  panic  in  case  of  sudden  danger,  and  perchance  en- 
able her  to  save  her  own  life  and  the  lives  of  others. 

As  we  sailed  down  the  lake,  the  distant  mountains 
came  nearer,  and  islands  lifted  their  heads,  as  in  the 
Italian  lakes,  to  give  the  relief  of  variety  to  the  scene. 
Rounding  one  of  these  islands  to  a  sheltered  spot,  we 
drew  alongside  a  pier  and  walked  ashore,  and  up  two  or 
three  flights  of  steps  to  a  hotel  beautifully  situated,  and 
whose  appointments,  if  not  as  luxurious  and  extravagant 


THE  LAKE  AND  THE  RIVER  237 

as  those  of  our  Eastern  watering-places,  were,  consider- 
ing that  we  were  in  the  mountains  and  far  from  civili- 
zation, all  that  could  be  desired. 

But  the  day  was  not  over;  indeed,  for  some  of  our 
fellow-tourists,  its  greatest  excitement  was  now  to  begin ; 
for  at  this  end  of  the  lake  it  empties  into  the  Yellow- 
stone Kiver,  and  this  is  the  very  place  where  the  salmon- 
trout  most  do  congregate.  I  could  hardly  understand 
the  fascination  of  this  sport  till  I  saw  the  eagerness  of 
some  of  our  party  to  throw  themselves  into  boats,  and 
push  off  to  the  fishing  ground.  Mr.  Huntley  took  his 
companion  of  the  mountain  drive  in  one  boat,  and  I 
followed  in  another,  in  which  sat  the  most  expert  fisher- 
man in  these  waters,  who  had  once  caught — not  in  a 
net,  mind  you,  but  with  hook  and  line — two  hundred  and 
fifty  trout  in  one  day !  Now,  having  the  glamour  of 
this  great  achievement  before  my  eyes,  and  fully  expect- 
ing to  see  it  repeated,  I  reasoned  that,  even  though  I 
was  a  silent  partner  in  this  new  enterprise,  yet  the  aver- 
age for  us  both  would  be  very  high.  Alas  for  my  hopes, 
hardly  had  my  friend  begun  to  draw  in  the  little  beauties, 
before  his  rod  broke,  and  he  had  to  send  back  to  the  hotel, 
a  mile  away,  for  another !  While  waiting  for  his  return, 
we  ran  the  skiff  on  the  beach,  and,  sitting  on  the  soft 
warm  sand,  recalled  old  times  in  the  history  of  this  mid- 
continent.  My  companion  had  come  to  Montana  at  an 
early  day,  and,  as  one  of  the  Vigilantes,  had  taken  an 
active  part  in  exterminating  the  robbers  and  murderers 
who  infested  the  country.  Of  those  scenes  he  could  say, 
"  All  of  which  I  saw,  and  part  of  which  I  was."  In  these 
tales  of  the  border  there  is  to  me  a  terrible  fascination, 
and  I  listened  with  eager  attention,  till  the  messenger 
returned  with  the  new  rod  that  was  to  work  a  miracle 


238  OUR   WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

of  fishes  before  the  sun  went  down ;  and  as  I  was  no 
longer  ambitious  to  divide  the  honors,  I  took  the  path 
along  the  shore  back  to  the  hotel,  delighted  not  only 
with  the  Alpine  scenery  on  every  side,  but,  not  least  of 
all,  to  see  the  tents  in  the  woods,  which  indicated  the 
presence  of  soldiers,  to  insure  protection  alike  to  the 
Park  itself,  and  to  strangers  who  wander  amid  these  soli- 
tudes. Even  nature  loses  its  charm  when  invaded  by 
savagery  and  barbarism,  and  I  felt  grateful  both  to  God 
and  to  my  country,  that  here  the  spirit  of  lawlessness 
had  been  subdued;  and  that  the  lakes  and  mountains, 
so  attractive  by  all  their  grandeur  and  their  beauty,  were 
the  abodes  of  quietness  and  peace. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE   CANON   OF   THE   YELLOWSTONE 

"  THE  Canon  of  the  Yellowstone  is  the  greatest  thing 
on  earth ! "  This  would  have  been  putting  it  rather 
strong  even  for  a  sentimental  traveller,  who  goes  into 
raptures  on  the  slightest  occasion,  and  indulges  in  every 
extravagance  of  language.  But  more  surprising  was  it 
from  a  grim  soldier,  who  is  not  wont  to  be  overawed 
by  anything  in  nature  or  in  war ;  but  stands  unmoved  by 
the  roar  of  the  cataract  as  by  the  noise  of  the  captains 
and  the  shouting.  So  when  Captain  Anderson,  who  had 
lived,  as  it  were,  in  sight  of  the  canon  for  years — seeing 
it  in  summer  and  in  winter,  by  day  and  by  night — said 
to  me,  "  It  is  the  greatest  thing  on  earth,"  it  was  what 
Dick  Swiveller  would  have  called  "  an  unmitigated  stag- 
gerer" ;  so  that  I  Avas  in  some  perturbation  of  mind,  and 
set  out  this  morning  with  an  anticipation  such  as  I  had 
not  had  since  that  memorable  night  on  the  desert,  when 
I  was  looking  to  see  the  sun  rise  on  Mount  Sinai. 

But  it  is  better  not  to  rush  into  such  a  presence  lightly 
or  unadvisedly,  but  to  linger  a  little  on  the  way.  Nature 
has  prepared  a  fitting  approach  along  the  banks  of  the 
Yellowstone  River,  which  comes  out  of  the  lake  with 
the  swiftness  of  the  arrowy  Rhone  as  it  issues  from 
the  Lake  of  Geneva.  As  if  to  run  a  race  with  it,  the 
light  carriage  that  came  over  the  mountains  yesterday  at 


240  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

such  speed,  now  swept  by  us  (with  the  reins  in  the  hands 
of  the  same  fearless  driver)  like  the  wind.  But  we  were 
in  no  haste,  and  not  only  drove  very  slowly,  but  stopped 
several  times  and  got  out  to  stroll  along  under  the  trees 
that  hang  over  the  stream,  like  the  willows  by  the 
rivers  of  Babylon.  How  beautiful  it  all  was  on  this 
summer  morning !  As  the  roots  of  the  trees  reach  out 
into  the  water,  they  form  little  pools  that  are  more 
quiet  than  the  rushing  stream,  and  here  the  trout  collect 
in  shoals  that  would  excite  the  enthusiasm  of  sportsmen. 
I  am  glad  we  had  none  of  them  with  us,  or  if  there  were, 
that  there  was  no  time  to  show  their  skill  with  the  rod 
and  reel.  I  did  not  feel  so  yesterday,  because  I  did  not 
see  the  little  creatures  so  clearly  in  the  deep  waters  of 
the  lake ;  but  now  that  they  are  close  under  my  eye, 
and  I  can  see  their  exquisite  beauty  of  form  and  color, 
it  seems  a  wanton  cruelty  to  destroy  them  just  for  the 
pleasure  of  destruction.  I  was  not  made  for  a  sports 
man,  for  really  I  could  never  see  the  sport  in  the 
angling  of  fishes,  any  more  than  in  the  shooting  of 
birds ! 

What  sort  of  a  man  is  he  who  can  find  pleasure  in 
shooting  robins?  Up  in  the  hills  where  I  have  my 
summer  home,  I  count  the  robins  that  come  to  us  a  part 
of  the  family.  They  are  the  first  harbingers  of  spring. 
Hardly  has  the  snow  melted  under  the  hill,  before  their 
soft  notes  tell  us  that  the  winter  is  over  and  gone.  It  is 
one  of  the  delights  of  summer  to  see  them  hopping  about 
the  lawn,  and  drinking  out  of  the  fountain.  We  love  to 
have  them  build  their  nests  in  the  trees,  or  under  the 
eaves ;  and  to  hear  their  bird  notes,  that  are  so  sooth- 
ing, as  they  seem  to  sing  only  of  love  and  peace.  If  I 
were  to  take  the  life  of  one  of  these  dainty  creatures, 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE       241 

I  should  have  a  feeling  of  shame  that  would  haunt 
me  for  weeks. 

What  the  robins  are  in  the  air,  the  trout  are  in  the 
river — creatures  that  are  born  to  live  in  the  sunshine, 
which  penetrates  even  their  watery  realm,  and  not  to  die 
for  the  mere  pleasure  of  their  human  destroyer.  I  do 
not  object  to  fishing  when  it  is  for  food,  for  the  support 
of  life ;  but  when  it  is  merely  to  show  one's  skill  in 
whirling  them  into  the  air  dangling  at  the  end  of  a  hook, 
I  prefer  to  take  my  pleasure  in  some  other  way.  It  did 
not  seem  quite  so  yesterday,  when  the  sufferers  were  out 
of  sight ;  but  here  in  these  shallow  waters,  where  I  can 
almost  touch  them  with  my  hand,  they  are  so  full  of 
life  and  happiness  that  I  should  feel  as  if  I  were  guilty 
of  wanton  cruelty  if,  for  the  mere  excitement  of  a  mo- 
ment, I  were  to  put  an  end  to  their  joyous  existence. 

When  we  resumed  our  journey  I  changed  places  with 
a  lady  from  Philadelphia,  who  was  of  our  party,  giving 
her  the  seat  on  the  box,  and  taking  her  seat  inside.  If 
the  former  has  some  advantages,  the  latter  is  by  no 
means  to  be  despised,  for  a  lumbering  old  coach  is  "  as 
easy  as  an  old  shoe,"  and,  as  it  swings  on  its  leather 
hinges,  one  feels  as  if  he  were  rocked  in  the  cradle  of 
the  deep.  And  what  a  spacious  interior  it  has !  If  it 
be  not  quite  as  big  as  a  small  house,  it  has  a  generous 
and  hospitable  look,  as  if  it  welcomed  all  comers,  and 
could  make  room  for  all.  And  as  the  curtains  are  rolled 
up,  we  can  see  on  both  sides.  It  may  be  that  Louis  the 
Fourteenth,  riding  in  his  state  coach,  felt  more  grand 
than  we,  but  I  do  not  believe  he  was  half  as  happy,  as 
he  was  not  half  so  free  from  care.  And  for  the  outlook, 
how  puny  and  insignificant  are  the  gardens  of  Versailles 
beside  the  wonders  of  the  Yellowstone  Park !  Take  it 
16 


242  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

all  together,  an  ordinary  traveller  who  "  wants  but  little 
here  below,"  should,  on  such  a  heavenly  day  as  this,  be 
more  than  satisfied. 

In  changing  seats,  I  was  sorry  to  lose  the  company  of 
Billy  Maine,  but  in  his  place  we  had  old  Dutch  Louis, 
who  was  not  less  of  a  character.  A  German  by  birth,  he 
had  come  to  this  country  when  a  young  man,  and,  when 
the  war  came  on,  enlisted  in  the  army,  and  fought  under 
Grant  at  Donelson  and  Shiloh  and  Yicksburg,  and  was 
with  Sherman  in  his  march  to  Atlanta.  After  the  war 
was  over,  it  was  quite  in  the  course  of  things  that  an  old 
soldier,  who  had  lived  so  long  in  the  camp,  should  drift 
off  to  the  Far  West,  and  become  a  backwoodsman.  In 
this  new  life  he  became  a  hunter  and  trapper,  and  learned 
all  the  ways  of  the  forest,  in  which  he  acquired  a  good 
deal  of  "  horse  sense,"  and  picked  up  a  few  jokes,  which 
serve  him  on  all  occasions.  "We  came  across  him  first 
at  the  Mammoth  Hot  Springs.  He  showed  us  over  the 
Terraces,  where  everything  is  so  incrusted  with  lime  that 
it  seems  as  if  water  were  turned  into  stone,  upon  which 
old  Louis  remarked  solemnly  that  the  absence  of  birds 
was  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  there  could  be  no 
young  ducks,  since  the  old  ducks  laid  hard-boiled  eggs ! 
Of  course,  nobody  stops  to  analyze  such  wit.  If  it  raises 
a  laugh  it  answers  its  purpose,  and  it  matters  not  if  it  be 
repeated  to  new-comers  a  dozen  times  a  day.  But,  withal, 
the  old  fellow  was  a  good  guide,  and  nothing  escaped  his 
observation.  "  Look  at  that  tree !  "  he  said,  pointing  to 
an  old  dead  trunk  by  the  roadside.  "  You  see  the  black 
mass  in  the  crotch.  It  is  an  eagle's  nest ;  yet  not  the 
bald  eagle  of  the  mountains,  but  the  osprey,  that  feeds 
on  fish,  of  which  he  finds  an  abundant  supply  in  the 
lake." 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE       243 

We  had  left  the  geysers  behind  the  day  before,  and 
had  only  one  to-day,  and  that  hardly  worthy  of  the 
name,  since  its  effervescence  was  not  of  pure  water 
thrown  up  in  shining  columns,  and  falling  in  a  shower 
of  spray,  but  was  simply  a  boiling  pot  of  mud.  The 
Mud  Geyser  is  its  name.  I  have  heard  of  throwing 
mud  in  political  disputes,  and  (to  our  shame  be  it  said) 
sometimes  in  religious  controversy,  but  really  I  thought 
that  nature  was  above  such  a  degradation.  But  here 
the  black  earth  boils  and  bubbles,  turning  up  a  mass  that 
might  be  the  overflowing  of  the  pit. 

But  all  such  impressions  are  forgotten  as  we  come 
along  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  find  its  current  growing 
fast  and  furious,  as  it  rushes  on  with  increasing  roar, 
like  the  rapids  of  Niagara,  before  it  takes  the  final 
plunge. 

It  was  a  little  after  noon  when  we  reined  up  at  the 
Grand  Canon  Hotel,  and  hardly  was  the  dinner  ended 
when  wagons  were  brought  round  to  the  door  to  take  us 
to  Inspiration  Point,  which  is  nearly  two  miles  away. 
This  is  no  great  matter  for  a  mountain  climber,  or  even 
a  good  pedestrian.  But  those  who  are  weak  in  the 
knees  or  short  of  breath  had  better  reserve  what  little 
strength  they  have  for  the  moment  when  it  is  most 
needed.  Old  Louis  put  it  very  neatly  when  he  said  of 
the  place  of  observation  that  "  it  was  Inspiration  Point, 
but  if  you  walked  it  was  Perspiration  Point!"  Not 
caring  to  waste  eitheir  muscle  or  nerve,  we  let  the  horses 
take  the  first  strain,  and  were  soon  winding  through  the 
deep  woods,  till  we  reached  the  cliffs,  where  we  rode 
along  a  path  which  seemed  perilously  near  to  the  edge, 
from  which  we  could  have  sprung  from  the  carriage  and 
fallen  upon  the  rocks  hundreds  of  feet  below. 


244  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

At  last  we  came  to  a  stop  under  the  trees,  where  the 
branches  over  our  head  made  a  cool  shade,  while  the 
fallen  leaves  spread  a  soft  carpet  under  our  feet.  From 
this  safe  eyry  we  had  to  advance  but  a  few  feet  to  stand 
on  Inspiration  Point,  a  huge  pinnacle  of  rock,  that  stands 
out  from  the  great  wall  of  the  cliff  like  a  column  that  in 
time  of  war  would  be  surmounted  by  a  flagstaff,  or 
signal,  that  could  be  seen  for  miles  up  and  down  the 
canon.  It  is  approached  by  a  narrow  (and  I  thought 
rather  slippery)  ridge,  where  I  should  wish  to  step  very 
slowly  and  cautiously,  even  if  I  did  not  take  off  my 
shoes  from  my  feet  as  if  it  were  holy  ground. 

Although  we  were  a  gay  and  merry  company,  that  in 
most  cases  were  "  up  to  anything,"  I  observed  that  there 
was  a  little  hesitation  in  rushing  out  on  the  place  of 
"  Inspiration."  Or,  to  put  it  more  gently,  we  deferred 
to  one  another,  each  willing  to  give  precedence  to  a 
fellow-traveller.  It  was  quite  touching  to  observe  the 
fine  courtesy  as  one  and  another  drew  back  to  let  some- 
body else  lead  the  way ! 

In  truth,  it  is  enough  to  try  the  nerves  of  any  one 
unaccustomed  to  great  heights,  to  place  his  frail  human- 
ity on  a  needle  point  that  stands  so  high  in  air  that 
there  is  but  a  step  between  him  and  death  Men  of 
powerful  physique  are  not  always  sure  of  their  own 
steadiness.  A  few  weeks  before  our  visit  Mr.  Iloke 
Smith,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  had  made  a  visit  to 
the  Yellowstone  Park,  and,  though  he  is  a  man  of  giant 
frame,  he  told  me  that  he  could  not  trust  himself  to 
venture  out  on  Inspiration  Point. 

But  two  or  three  of  our  party  advanced  with  an  air 
of  confidence,  and  stood  on  the  very  verge  of  the  preci- 
pice. Among  these  was  my  little  maiden,  who  would 


THE   CANON   OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE  245 

venture  anywhere,  though  she  confessed  to  me  after- 
wards (not,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  with  the  proper  degree  of 
humiliation)  that  she  was  badly  frightened,  but  that  she 
"  was  determined  to  do  it  if  she  died  for  it !  " 

As  for  her  old  uncle,  of  course  it  was  from  pure  mod- 
esty that  he  kept  in  the  background,  walking  with  slow 
and  solemn  step,  as  if  he  were  going  up  to  a  mount  of 
sacrifice,  and  finally  venturing  but  half  way. 

He  came  back  to  the  hotel  disappointed — not  with  the 
Canon  nor  Inspiration  Point,  but  with  himself — that  he 
had  come  to  see  the  greatest  thing  on  earth,  and  been  kept 
back  from  a  full  open  vision  by  his  own  nervousness.  He 
would  see  it  again  with  unshaken  nerves  and  unshrinking 
feet,  and  so  determined  to  prolong  his  visit  to  another 
day. 

We  did  not  lose  the  Canon  when  we  left  the  woods ;  it 
followed  us  everywhere.  Our  rooms  in  the  hotel  over- 
looked it.  I  do  not  mean  that  they  looked  down  into  it, 
for  which  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  make  a  nearer 
approach,  but  that  they  looked  across  the  deep  gorge  in 
which  it  lies  buried. 

With  a  waterfall  thus  in  sight  and  in  hearing,  we 
could  not  forget  it,  and  the  first  thing  the  next  morning 
was  to  visit  both  the  Upper  and  the  Lower  Fall,  for  which 
I  summoned  the  faithful  Louis,  who  led  the  way  down 
the  long  slope  in  front  of  the  hotel,  which  was  an  easy 
descent,  and  we  strode  ahead  rapidly.  Nor  did  we  need 
to  stay  our  steps  in  going  to  the  Upper  Fall.  So  far  it 
was  plain  sailing,  or  plain  walking ;  but  as  we  turned  to 
the  Lower  and  greater  Fall,  the  descent  was  steeper,  and 
it  was  prudent,  if  not  necessary,  to  take  more  cautious 
steps.  Old  Louis  understood  the  business  better  than  I, 
and  checked  my  youthful  impetuosity.  "  Don't  be  quite 


246  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

so  fast,  Doctor! "  he  said;  "you'd  better  go  slow.  Don't 
go  a-trottin' !  If  you  go  a-trottin',  you'll  get  weak  in 
the  knees,  and  can't  stop  yourself,  and  the  first  you  know 
down  you'll  go!  And  another  thing,  don't  take  short, 
quick  steps,  like  a  woman,  but  put  your  foot  out  well  in 
front,  so  as  to  lean  your  whole  weight  upon  it,  and  then 
you'll  stand  firm."  This  was  a  timely  caution,  and  by 
following  it  I  got  down  safely,  and,  standing  on  the 
little  parapet  that  is  on  the  very  edge  of  the  rushing 
waters,  looked  over  into  the  depth  below,  into  which 
the  river  makes  its  plunge  of  three  hundred  and  sixty 
feet! 

Returning  from  the  falls,  I  set  my  face  again  towards 
Inspiration  Point,  keeping  Louis  for  my  only  companion 
and  guide.  Being  by  ourselves,  we  jogged  slowly  through 
the  woods,  stopping  wherever  anything  tempted  our 
eyes.  There  are  many  grand  views  along  the  cliffs. 
The  Lookout  has  one  advantage  over  Inspiration  Point 
itself  in  being  lower  and  projecting  farther,  so  that  it 
gives  one  a  nearer  view  of  the  Canon.  It  is  also  easier 
of  approach.  The  path  is  one  that  has  no  terrors,  and  I 
almost  ran  or  danced  up  to  the  top.  This  would  be  the 
favorite  outlook  for  sightseers,  were  not  their  imagina- 
tions excited  by  the  prospect  of  mounting  to  a  point 
much  nearer  heaven ! 

To  that  at  last  we  came.  I  had  prepared  myself  by 
"  girding  up  my  loins "  with  the  belt  with  which  I  had 
clambered  up  the  rocks  of  Gibraltar.  Fortunately  there 
was  nobody  at  the  Point  except  a  young  German,  who 
was  travelling  in  this  country,  and  carried  his  kodak 
everywhere,  with  which  he  had  just  taken  a  snap  shot  at 
the  head  of  old  "  Inspiration."  As  he  had  been  trained 
in  the  army,  he  was  all  muscle  and  no  nerves,  and  feared 


THE    FALLS   OF   Tllli   YELLOWSTONE. 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE       247 

not  to  go  anywhere ;  and  the  gallant  soldier  now  offered 
me  his  strong  arm.  Thus  attended  by  two  valiant  men- 
at-arms,  I  strode  forward  like  a,  conqueror  and  planted 
my  foot  on  the  topmost  pinnacle,  like  Balboa  "  upon  a 
peak  in  Darien ! "  I  cannot  boast  that  I  exercised  any 
great  freedom  in  my  movements,  for  old  Louis  held  on 
to  me  like  a  bloodhound,  and  my  German  friend  stood 
like  a  lieutenant  by  the  side  of  his  commander !  With 
such  supports,  the  "commander"  could  not  show  the 
white  feather,  and  he  not  only  went  to  the  very  tip- 
end  of  the  Point,  but  straightened  himself  up,  as  if  he 
were  Julius  Caesar ! 

And  how  far  up  in  the  world  was  he  ?  A  thousand 
feet !  As  high  as  the  top  of  the  Eiffel  Tower,  on  which  he 
once  stood.  But  there  he  was  protected  by  a  balustrade 
of  iron,  against  which  he  could  lean  in  safety.  Here 
there  was  absolutely  nothing — not  a  rail,  nor  even  a  rope 
to  catch  hold  of  in  case  of  giddiness — nothing  but  the  air 
and  the  sky ! 

But  there  is  a  fascination  even  in  terror ;  and  having 
done  it  once  I  sprang  up  eagerly  to  do  it  again,  and 
stepping  forward,  raised  myself  up  to  my  full  height, 
and  even  stood  on  tiptoe  for  one  last  look,  that  should 
take  in  the  length  and  depth  of  the  tremendous  gulf 
that  yawned  beneath. 

And  now,  being  somewhat  composed  in  mind,  I  sit 
down  on  the  rocks  to  study  a  little  more  in  detail  the  feat- 
ures of  this  Canon  of  the  Yellowstone.  If  I  were  a  man  of 
science,  my  first  thought  would  be  to  take  its  proportions ; 
to  measure  it — the  depth  and  the  length  and  the  breadth 
of  it — to  see  how  deep-laid  are  its  foundations,  and  how 
high  its  battlements — and  to  study  the  forces  in  nature 
that  could  make  such  a  rent  in  the  solid  globe.  The 


248  OUR  WESTERN  ARCHIPELAGO 

mountains  have  not  been  cleft  in  twain,  as  in  some 
wild  Alpine  gorges,  by  a  convulsion  of  nature,  that  has 
torn  the  earth  asunder ;  nor  has  the  bottom  dropped  out 
by  a  sinking  of  the  crust  of  the  earth,  a  catastrophe 
which  is  supposed  by  many  scientific  authorities  to  have 
caused  the  great  depression  of  the  Valley  of  the  Yo- 
semite.  The  canon  is  not  the  work  of  the  earthquake  or 
the  volcano.  It  has  not  been  wrought  by  fire,  but  by 
water,  the  softest  and  the  gentlest  of  the  elements,  instead 
of  the  fiercest  and  the  most  destructive.  "  Water  wears 
away  stones,"  but  it  must  have  a  long  time  to  do  it.  A 
few  inches  would  take  the  span  of  a  human  life.  Geolo- 
gists have  attempted  to  compute  the  time  required  for 
Niagara  to  work  its  way  back  from  Lake  Ontario,  the 
rapids  wearing  down  the  cliffs  for  seven  miles,  and  fur- 
rowing a  channel  two  hundred  feet  deep, 

"  Notching  the  centuries  in  the  eternal  rocks." 

But  the  beginning  of  the  recession  of  Niagara  (though 
it  may  antedate  the  existence  of  man  upon  the  earth) 
is  but  of  yesterday  compared  with  that  of  the  Yellow- 
stone, which,  rippling  softly  over  the  rocks,  has  cut 
through  the  solid  strata  for  twenty  miles  to  a  depth  of 
five  times  that  of  Niagara !  Here  all  calculations  fail. 
The  life  of  man,  which  is,  for  us,  the  unit  of  time, 
dwindles  to  the  vanishing  point,  as  we  look  up  to  the 
hoary  summits,  whose  age  is  reverently  compared  with 
that  of  Him  whose  "  going  forth  is  of  old,  even  from 
everlasting." 

Sitting  here  in  perfect  stillness,  save  the  faint  murmur 
of  the  river  far  below,  the  association  took  me  back  to 
another  height,  on  which  I  stood  twelve  years  since — 
Mount  Sinai.  There  the  impression  of  awe  Avas  far  greater 


THE   CANON   OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE  249 

than  here,  but  it  was  relieved  by  something  that  is  not 
here.  There  was  the  mountain  that  was  once  wrapped 
in  cloud,  from  which  issued  thunderings  and  lightnings. 
But  the  terror  was  relieved  by  a  Presence  in  the  cloud, 
and  a  Yoice  that,  while  it  pronounced  the  inexorable  Law, 
yet  coupled  with  it  the  word  of  promise  and  of  hope. 

But  here  all  this  is  wanting.  The  mountains  are  stern 
and  silent.  The  rocks  are  hard  and  cold.  In  the  midst 
of  the  destructive  forces  of  nature,  how  lonely  is  man ! 
He  is  the  most  helpless  of  all  creatures.  Yonder  eagle, 
sitting  on  his  nest  half  way  down  the  Canon,  can  take 
care  of  himself.  But  man  gropes  about  as  one  uncared 
for,  and  unrecognizing  nature  crushes  him  like  a  worm. 
With  instincts  that  crave  communion,  he  finds  nothing 
around  that  gives  him  even  a  sign  of  intelligence.  He 
is  in  the  midst  of  blind  forces,  whose  only  mission  is  to 
destroy.  In  these  awful  solitudes  there  is  nothing  that 
speaks  to  him  of  life,  but  only  of  death,  inevitable  and 
universal.  The  sunken  Canon,  when  darkened  by  the 
shadow  of  the  cliffs,  or  when  the  clouds  hang  low  above 
it,  seems  to  be  covered  with  a  funeral  pall,  as  if  it  were 
a  rock-hewn  sepulchre,  the  sepulchre  of  the  world.  Such 
is  the  awf ulness  of  nature  without  life  and  without  God ! 

But  while  we  are  "  shivering  on  the  brink,"  the  clouds 
break,  and  instantly  there  is  a  revelation  of  what  was 
hidden  by  the  darkness.  The  river,  in  digging  its  way 
through  countless  ages  down  into  the  heart  of  the  earth, 
has  uncovered  the  strata  one  after  another,  till  the  veins 
of  rock  are  like  veins  of  blood,  streaked  upon  the  old 
walls,  which  instantly  flash  with  such  brilliancy  of  color 
that  the  whole  Canon  is  lighted  up  with  ineffable  splen- 
dor. It  is  for  the  moment  as  if  the  veil  were  drawn 
aside ;  as  if  the  gates  were  opened ;  and  we  saw  things 


250  OUR  WESTERN   ARCHIPELAGO 

invisible  to  the  natural  eye.  This  is  no  longer  a  sepul- 
chre for  the  dead ;  it  is  filled  with  life,  with  whispering 
voices  and  fluttering  wings.  There  is  something  more 
than  beauty ;  there  has  come  into  the  face  of  nature 
an  expression  of  tenderness,  the  tenderness  of  God,  in 
whose  presence  we  are  no  longer  trembling  and  afraid  ; 
we  are  in  our  Father's  house,  in  the  hand  not  only  of 
infinite  power,  but  of  infinite  love. 

This  is  not  a  description  of  the  Canon  of  the  Yellow- 
stone. I  do  not  attempt  to  describe  the  indescribable. 
But  it  is  better  than  drawing  pictures,  to  draw  from 
nature  itself  an  inspiration  of  something  that  is  above 
nature,  a  faith  that  shall  be  "  the  light  of  all  our  seeing  " 
in  this  world  of  shadows. 


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